^Si»rt»' 


BS  538.7  .W5  1892 
Warren,  Henry  White,  1831 

1912. 
The  Bible  in  the  world's 

education 


From  "  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cjxlopft-Jia."  — Copyright,  ISjl,  by  Harper  &  Brothers, 

JOHN    WYCLIFFE. 


y 


Wstlifft  ftdurts 


THE  BIBLE     (*    apr2619ii 


IN 


THE  WORLD'S  EDUCATION 


HENRY  WHITE  WARREN,  S.T.D. 

One  o/  the  Bishops  of  the  Ivlethodist  Episcopal  Churchy 
Author  of ''^ Recreations  in  Astronomy^'  etc. 


NEW  YORK :    EATON    &    MAINS 
CINCINNATI:    CURTS  &  JENNINGS 


Copyright,  1892,  by 

HUNT    &     EATON, 

Nkw  York. 


TO 

E.  I.  W., 

OF  ALL  LOVERS  OF  THE  WHOLE  BIHLE 

KNOWN  TO  ME 

THE  DEAREST  AND  BEST. 


THE  WYCLIFFE   FOUNDATION 

For  Teaching  the  English  Bible  to  the  Students 
of  the  University  of  Denver. 


To  the  Trustees  of  the  Colorado  Seminary  and  the  University 

of  Denver  : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  "W"e  are  signally 
honored  by  being  made  the  custodians  and  man- 
agers of  the  funds  and  opportunities  of  an  important 
institution  for  giving  the  coming  generation  the 
greatest  intellectual  and  moral  development. 

I  have  felt  that  our  honors  and  opportunities 
could  not  be  multiplied  without  our  responsibili- 
ties being  increased.  Anxious  to  meet  my  own,  I 
have  asked  how  I  could  best  extend  the  usefulness 
of  the  University  of  Denver. 

Fortunately  there  is  one  book  that  is  the  oldest 
history,  the  best  known  classic,  the  deepest 
philosophy,  an  ideal  excellence  of  poetry  and 
rhetoric,  the  embodiment  of  our  American  consti- 
tutional law,  the  foundation  of  good  morals,  whose 
words   are   still   spirit    and    still    alive    with    the 


8  The  Bible. 

aiitliority  of  Him  who  spake  as  never  man  spake^ 
a  blessedness  to  nations  and  power  of  eternal  life 
to  individuals. 

I  count  myself  most  happy  to  be  able  to  begin 
the  endowment  of  a  professorship  for  teaching  all 
the  students  of  the  University,  in  all  the  coming 
years,  the  varied  excellence  and  perpetual  power 
of  the  English  Bible. 

I  can  think  of  no  investment  of  the  money  I  am 
able  to  give  more  likely  to  yield  abundant  increase 
than  the  purcliase  of  lots  in  University  Park.  I 
therefore  ask  permission  to  buy  of  the  University, 
at  the  regular  rates,  twenty-two  lots,  which  I  will 
immediately  deed  to  the  trustees  of  the  Colorado 
Seminary,  to  be  a  part  of  the  assets  and  means  of 
usefulness  of  the  Iliff  School  of  Theology,  for  the 
purpose,  as  Mr.  Gladstone  says,  "of  bringing  the 
human  mind  into  contact  with  divine  revelation  as 
the  only  hope  of  the  world." 

I  also  ask,  as  a  great  privilege,  that  the  money 
paid  for  the  lots  may  be  used  to  immediately  begin 
the  erection  of  the  Home  for  Young  Women  in 
connection  with  the  rising  walls  of  University 
Hall  at  the  Park. 

[Signed.]  H.  W.  Warren. 

Denver. 


The  Wyoliffe  Foundation.  9 

This  offer  was  accepted  by  the  adoption  of  the 
following  resolutions  : 

WhereaSj  The  University  of  Denver  is  the  child 
of  the  Church  ;  praying  men  and  women  laid  its 
foundation  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  upon  this 
foundation  the  superstructure  is  being  built;  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  model  of  teachers  and  the  pattern  of 
students ;  the  word  of  God  is  the  final  authority  in 
all  matters  of  faith  and  practice. 

Whereas,  Bishop  Henry  White  Warren,  D.D., 
has  to-night  added  to  his  many  and  distinguished 
services  to  the  University  by  this  gift  of  $6,300 
which  begins  the  endowment  of  the  professorship  of 
the  English  Bible,  which  will  secure  instruction  in 
the  noblest  literature  known  to  mankind  ;  which 
will  lead  to  a  riper  acquaintance  with  the  supreme 
classic,  in  poem  and  parable,  in  prophecy  and  in 
proverb,  in  history  and  in  law,  in  morals  and 
philosophy,  and  will  give  the  study  of  the  divine 
book  its  true  place  in  the  course  of  liberal  culture ; 
therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  accept  this  gift  with  sincere 
and  hearty  gratitude  to  God,  who  has  given  his  word 
and  inspired  the  hearts  of  his  children  ;  and  with 
prof oundest  thanks  to  Bishop  Warren  for  this  wise 
and  munificent  offering  to  the  cause  of  Christian 
education  ;  and, 

Resolved,  That  we  agree  to  fully  comply  with  all 
the  conditions  attaching  to  the  Bishop's  proposition. 


PROPYLy^UM. 

HAVING  GOOD,   GIVE. 

In  the  wilds  of  Alaska  I  found  a  man  who  had 
some  very  valuable  specimens  of  gold  ore.  The 
original  quartz  had  been  disintegrated  away  and 
left  the  pure  gold  lying  like  threads  of  solidified 
sunset.  Ko  poet  could  ever  fitly  sing  the  praises 
of  such  golden  hair;  no  painter  ever  represent 
by  his  art  its  ideal  beauty  and  worth.  The  price- 
less mine  that  yielded  these  fair  treasures  could 
not  be  found  by  any  other  man,  and  the  drunken 
sloth  of  the  prospector  could  not  be  stirred  to  re- 
veal his  secret.  How  gladly  would  you  and  I  stand 
before  such  a  treasure-cave  and  utter  the  taliamanic 
"  Open  Sesame "  and  explore  its  glittering  won- 
ders. 

In  all  parts  of  the  earth  we  have  found  gems  of 
thought,  pearls  of  expression,  wisdom  beyond  all 
price,  so  valuable  that  no  mention  shall  be  made 
of  coral  or  of  pearls,  for  the  price  of  such  wisdom 
is  above  rubies.  Men  have  lield  their  little  frag- 
ments of  it  to  be  dearer  than  life  itself.  Has  any 
drunken  sloth  or  savage  dog-in-the-mangerism  kept 


The  Bible.  11 

this  treiisure  from  man  ?  No,  a  thousand  times 
no.  Men  have  tried  to  spread  the  news,  they  have 
died  to  carry  specimens — nay,  the  whole  mine  itself 
— into  every  land  under  tlie  whole  heaven,  they  have 
cried,  "  Come  and  buy,  without  money  and  without 
price.  There  is  enough  for  all,  enough  for  each, 
enoui^rh  for  evermore." 

I  am  here  to  ask  these  students  of  everything 
historic,  everything  ideal,  everything  beautiful,  to 
help  me  explore  this  mine. 

The  joy  that  I  have  set  before  me  in  this  work 
is  superb.  I  take  into  my  heart  this  noble  com- 
pany of  youth  for  all  it  is.  It  is  dowered  with 
agile  grace,  flushed  with  delicate  beauty,  alert  in 
every  faculty,  avaricious  of  knowledge,  keenly 
perceptive  of  truth,  a  perpetual  fountain  of  affec- 
tion and  joy.  Blessings  on  you  for  the  rapture 
you  bring  into  the  world. 

I  also  take  you  for  what  you  are  to  be,  not  only 
for  this  flowering  springtime,  but  for  the  sunnner 
and  the  harvest  of  the  years,  and  beyond  years 
to  come.  The  seeds  dropped  here  shall  yield  a 
hundredfold.  Give  me  your  hands,  give  me  your 
hearts,  and  let  me  go  with  you  to  the  richest  treas- 
ure our  old  earth  ever  knew  and  help  you  take  your 
utmost  fill. 


THE  ENGLISH   BIBLE! 

FIRST   ANNUAL   COURSE    OF    LECTURES 

ON 

THE  WYCLIFFE  FOUNDATION. 


L  THE  BIBLE:    Why  Written:    A  General     p^^. 

View 15 

IL       "  "  Its  Ideals      ....       47 

III.  "  "  Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized       75 

IV.  '*  *'  Its  Pkophecies  and  Predic- 

tions   101 

V.       "  "         Miraculous  Signs  of  Great 

Ideas 125 

VI.       *'  "  Criticism,     Legitimate    and 

Necessary  ....     140 
VII.       "  "  Its   Verbal   Felicities   and 

Intensities  .         .         .177 

VIII.       "  "  Its     Relation    to    College 

Students  and  Studies       .     207 
IX.       **  *'         Its  Relation  to  THE  Questions 

OF  To-day  and  To-MORRO^v     2^:1 
X.       "  "  Will  Men  Outgrow  It  ?       .      2.">n 

XI.       "  "  Its    First    Great    English 

Translator — Wycliffe    .     287 


I. 

THE  BIBLE:  WHY  WRITTEN: 
A  GENERAL  VIEW. 


SYLLABUS. 


I.  SUBJECT — The  Bible:  Why  Written. 

Never  so  Popular  as  Now : 

178,142,758  copies  distributed  by  two  societies  in  eighty-six  years.  Never 
so  studied  as  now. 

It  is  Self-authenticating : 

Never  before  so  effective  on  lives. 

//   is   History   "with   Motives   Laid  Bare — the  Power  Behind   Thrones 
Made  Evident: 

Human  history  In  four  words :  Union,  Disunion,  Reconstruction, 
Reunion. 

It  is  the  Record  of  God's  Education  of  the  Race  : 

Material  to  be  trained  :  Prime.     Tried  under  one  rule  :  Failed. 

What  is  A  ttetnpted  for  Recovery  : 

Revelation  of  ONE  God — Men  In  his  image.  Man  made  for  dominion. 
Abraham  called  as  being  susceptible  of  culture  ;  trained  in  faith  and 
obedience.     Results  not  for  himself  alone,  for  all  families. 

College  Curricula  of  the  Race  Continued  in  the  Twelve  Patriarchs: 
Egypt  a  schoolhouse ;  the  Law  a  schoolmaster.     Lessons :  All  power  In 
in  God  ;  holiness  ;  destructiveness  of  sin.     Law  an  Imperious  necessity. 

Prophets  an   Unmuzzled  Free  Press  without  Newspapers  : 

Result :  Piety  that  writes  a  manual  of  devotion  that  our  poets  cannot 
equal.     Psalms  Inspired. 

Daily  Life  Related  to  Spiritual  Things  :  Golden  Age  ahead. 

But  Especially  was  the  Bible  written  to  Outline,  Prophesy,  and  Bring 
Into  this  World  a  Perfect  Character,  giving  Infinite  Help  to  Man. 


I. 

THE  BIBLE:   WHY  WRITTEN:   A  GENERAL 

VIEW. 

THIS  is  tlie  book  for  the  elucidation  of  which 
this  professorship  is  endowed.  It  is  a  very 
popular  book.  It  is  most  vitally  believed  in,  or 
men  would  not  consecrate  their  property  for  its 
teaching  and  their  lives  to  its  dissemination. 

Some  of  it  is  over  three  thousand  years  old. 
Yet  it  was  never  so  popular  as  now.  The  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  distributed  in  the  first 
seventy-six  years  of  its  existence  88,168,419  vol- 
umes, an  average  of  8,800,000  for  each  ten  years ; 
but  in  the  last  ten  years  35,760,627  volumes, 
nearly  three  and  a  half  times  as  many.  The  Amer- 
ican Bible  Society  in  its  first  sixty-five  years 
distributed  38,882,811,  but  in  the  last  ten  years 
15,350,901 ;  that  is,  in  each  of  the  last  ten  years 
two  and  a  half  times  as  many  as  were  distributed 
per  year  in  the  previous  years. 

It  is  in  the  recollection  of  us  all  that  three 
million  copies  of  the  Revised  Yersion  of  the  !N"ew 
Testament  were  called  for  in  a  few  days.  These 
are  the  most  stupendous  literary  facts  in  existence. 


16  The  Bible: 

Kemember  this  is  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, and  these  societies  are  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  cultured  people,  and  also  that  they  represent 
but  a  small  fraction  of  the  publication  of  this  book. 
The  best  minds  of  the  most  developed  and  edu- 
cated races  on  earth  are  most  interested  in  this 
book.  Ten  million  volumes  drop  from  the  press 
every  year  in  Germany.  A  majority  of  them 
are  caused  by  the  Bible.  That  is,  the  Bible  is 
more  important  and  productive  of  more  thought 
than  anything  else.  Yon  Moltke,  the  great 
embodiment  of  intellectual  plans  and  executive 
force,  said  the  Bible  had  more  influence  over 
his  mind  than  any  other  book.  And  the  venerable 
premier  of  England,  always  and  easily  premier, 
whether  in  office  or  not,  applies  his  most  matured 
mind  to  writing  a  book  called  The  Impregnable 
Rock  of  Holy  Scripture,  Such  testimonies  could 
be  multiplied  without  limit.  Benan,  by  no  means 
a  champion  of  orthodoxy,  says :  "The  whole  world 
— we  except  India,  China,  Japan,  and  tribes  alto- 
gether savage — has  adopted  the  Semitic  religion." 
That  religion,  which  the  whole  world,  including 
the  exceptions  mentioned,  is  hastening  to  adopt,  is 
contained  in  the  Bible.  A  layman,  professor  in 
Harvard  College,  has  said :  "  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament 


Why  Written  :  A  General  Yiew.         17 

have  exerted  more  influence,  wlietlier  for  weal  or 
woe,  on  tlie  course  of  human  affairs  among  civil- 
ized nations  than  all  other  books  put  together." 
Stupendous  assertion.  He  whose  education  omits 
such  a  factor  in  the  world's  progress  is  not  liber- 
ally educated. 

This  book  was  never  so  studied  as  now.  Com- 
mentaries, lesson  helps,  maps,  lectures  literally 
pour  out  from  the  press  by  the  million  a  week. 
Papers  and  books  exclusively  for  its  elucidation 
have  a  circulation  that  no  merely  literary  or  scien- 
tific publication  can  approximate.  Great  assemblies 
gather  in  all  parts  of  the  country  for  the  training 
of  men  and  women  eager  to  learn  for  themselves, 
and  gratuitously  teach  the  Bible  to  others.  And 
millions  of  young  people  gather  every  week  to 
learn  its  sacred  precepts.  He  who  does  not  know 
and  appreciate  these  signs  of  the  times  is  leaving 
all  the  plus  signs  out  of  his  algebra  of  life.  This 
is  not  a  book  of  such  mean  range  as  to  be  soon  ex- 
hausted. For  an  able  man  to  give  his  whole  life 
to  any  one  other  book  would  bring  about  a  dwin- 
dling of  soul  and  wasting  of  powers.  But  hear 
one  of  the  most  influential  men  of  our  age,  one 
who  has  spoken  to  more  men  every  year  than  all 
scientific  and  literary  lecturers  put  together,  give 

liis  experience  of  the  growing  richness  of  this  mine 
2 


18  The  Bible  : 

of  thouglit.  I  refer  to  Charles  H.  Spurgeon,  just 
returned  to  heaven  : 

"After  preaching  the  Gospel  for  forty  years, 
and  after  printing  the  sermons  I  have  preached 
for  more  than  six  and  thirty  years,  reaching  now 
to  the  number  of  twenty-two  hundred,  in  weekly 
succession,  I  am  fairly  entitled  to  speak  about 
the  fullness  and  the  richness  of  the  Bible  as 
a  preacher's  book.  Brethren,  it  is  inexhaust- 
ible. No  question  about  freshness  will  arise  if 
we  keep  closely  to  the  text  of  the  sacred  vol- 
ume. There  can  be  no  difficulty  as  to  finding 
themes  totally  distinct  from  those  we  have  han* 
died  before ;  the  variety  is  as  infinite  as  the  full- 
ness. A  long  life  will  only  suffice  us  to  skirt  the 
shores  of  this  great  continent  of  light.  In  the 
forty  years  of  my  own  ministry  I  have  only 
touched  the  hem  of  the  garment  of  divine  truth ; 
but  what  virtue  has  flowed  out  of  it.  The  word 
is,  like  its  Author,  infinite,  immeasurable,  without 
end.  If  you  were  ordained  to  be  a  preacher 
throughout  eternity  you  would  have  before  you  a 
theme  equal  to  everlasting  demands." 

In  this  single  country  there  are  ninety-five  thou- 
sand men  of  Spurgeon's  profession  whose  sole  duty 
and  pleasure  in  life  it  is  to  study,  understand,  and 
teach  others  tlie  inexhaustible  wealth  of  this  book. 


Why  Written  :  A  General  View.         19 

And  they  are  powerful  as  thej  cling  closely  to  the 
word.  The  preachers  who  set  out  with,  or  acquire 
afterward,  a  gorgeousness  of  rhetoric,  a  soundness 
of  reasoning,  an  aurora  borealis  of  fancy,  a  fire  of 
patriotism,  a  depth  of  philosophy,  a  reality  of 
genius,  but  who  are  not  irradiated,  pervaded,  and 
vivified  by  the  spirit  of  this  word,  fail  to  be  the 
greatest  teachers.  Their  audiences  fall  off  unless 
constantly  renewed  with  new  material,  and  their 
own  work  is  a  rope  of  sand  that  goes  to  pieces  on 
the  shores  of  time  when  the  storms  of  life  roll  in 
most  heavily.  Theodore  Parker  had  the  greatest 
advantages  ever  vouchsafed  to  man  —  personal 
magnetism,  eloquence,  Boston  Music  Hall,  the 
great  organ,  and  an  age  travailing  with  the  great- 
est birth  of  time,  emancipation ;  but  he  left  no  oi*- 
ganization  so  instinct  with  life  that  it  could  per- 
petuate his  life-work.  William  R.  Alger  and 
Felix  Adler  were  only  imitators  of  a  fizzle.  But 
an  organization  built  up  on  the  Bible  has  a  more 
than  granite  permanence.  Beecher,  in  the  days  of 
his  greatest  power,  was  always  closest  to  the  Bible. 
To  it,  and  not  to  any  fallible  men,  does  the  organ- 
ization owe  its  continued  and  vigorous  life  of 
to-day. 

On  the  first  page  of  this  book,  away  back  before 
sun  and  moon  and    stars,  it    says :    "  In  the  be* 


20  The  Bible: 

ginning  God  created."  On  its  eleventh  hundredth 
page,  awaj  beyond  the  end  of  this  world,  it  says : 
"  Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus.  The  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all.  Amen." 
Does  it  contain  all  that  transpired  between?  It 
claims  to  contain  the  vitally  important  things,  the 
real  epochs  of  history.  It  claims  to  be  drawn  from 
sources  of  wisdom  that  are  infinite  and  infallible  ; 
to  have  foresight  that  makes  a  thousand  years  as 
one  day,  and  power  that  taketh  up  the  isles  as  a 
little  thing,  that  weighs  the  hills  in  scales  and  the 
mountains  in  the  balance. 

It  is  a  book  that  has  a  marvelous  self-authenti- 
cating power.  It  says  whosoever  shall  do  his  will 
shall  know  in  himself  the  doctrines  taught.  It 
inaugurates  the  Baconian  way  to  knowledge, 
through  experiment,  sixteen  centuries  before  Ba- 
con ever  thought  of  it.  It  authenticates  itself  in 
such  a  clear,  tangible,  and  forceful  way  that  grow- 
ing millions  of  people  find  the  doctrines  taught 
dearer  than  life.  They  will  go  singing  to  the 
stake  or  exulting  to  the  lion's  den  rather  than  give 
up  the  precious  doctrines  learned. 

Its  doctrines  never  before  spread  with  anything 
like  the  rapidity  they  have  to-day.  In  this  intel- 
lectual United  States,  besides  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  Church  members  who  died  in  the 


Why  Written  :  A  General  Yiew.       .  21 

year  1890,  drafted  out  of  the  Church  militant  to 
recruit  the  Church  triumphant,  one  milHon  and 
ninety  thousand  accepted  in  heart  and  life  this 
book  as  their  supreme  guide  for  this  life  and  all 
their  lives  to  come.  And  its  mastery  over  the  in- 
telligent men  who  accepted  it  with  all  the  heart  is 
such  that  they  built  twenty-eight  hundred  new 
houses  in  the  United  States  last  year  for  reading 
and  teaching  the  book,  and  gave  millions  of  dollars 
to  send  it  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  Ko. 
body  will  ever  build  any  temple  for  science  unless 
he  is  first  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  this  book. 

Turn  to  the  book  itself.  It  is  easy  to  see  what 
it  is.  It  is  human  history  with  the  flesh  off  so 
that  we  can  see  motives,  hidden  powers,  souls,  and 
Soul  of  all  things.  It  is  human  history  in  four 
words — union,  disunion,  reconstruction,  reunion. 
It  is,  first,  the  union  designed  between  man  and 
God,  in  heredity,  companionship,  helpfulness,  and 
destiny.  Then  it  is  disunion  when  man  broke 
out  into  disobedience  of  law  and  therefore  had  all 
its  energies  potent  to  bless  necessarily  perverted  to 
restraint.  Then  it  is  a  record  of  God's  efforts 
through  millennia  at  reconstruction  of  man's  lost 
powers  and  unities.  It  is,  finally,  reunion  per- 
fected, illustrated  in  the  God-man  walking  the 
earth,  showing  the  etiquette  of   heaven  and  the 


22  The  Bible: 

possibilities  of  man  reunited  to  God.  It  v/as  Les- 
sing  who  first  defined  the  Bible  as  the  record  of  the 
divine  education  of  the  race.  Looked  at  in  this 
way  perplexities  vanish,  and  all  becomes  clear  as 
liglit  itself.  We  do  not  take  a  microscope  to  study 
in  it  statistics,  geology,  and  a  hundred  other  of  our 
ologies  all  right  in  themselves,  but  we  come  open- 
eyed  and  open-hearted  to  ask,  Does  it  teach  salva- 
tion ?  The  heavens  are  the  open  book  of  astron- 
omy, the  earth  of  geology.  But  the  Bible  is  the 
open  book  of  salvation  from  sin.  And  there  is 
an  infallible  teaclier  of  the  book. 

What  was  the  process  of  this  education  ?  What 
the  ideas  imparted  ?  What  the  pranks,  capers,  re- 
sistances, flunks,  smashes,  escapades,  and  truancies 
of  the  pupils  ?  What  the  utter  failures  of  the 
good  Father  to  educate  some  bad  boys  ?  And  the 
only  partial  results  of  efforts  to  educate  some  good 
boys  ?  Let  it  all  be  frankly  told.  Rugby  is  not 
to  be  condemned  because  Tom  Brown  stole  away 
to  go  fishing,  nor  because  he  got  into  fights  and 
had  black  eyes  that  were  not  laid  down  in  the  cur- 
riculum. All  that  is  owing  to  the  material  to  be 
educated,  not  to  tlie  system  of  education.  You 
will  find  all  these  murders,  lies,  adulteries,  etc., 
set  down  in  the  account  of  the  education  of  our 
race ;  and  while  it  is  far  from  complimentary  to 


Why  Written  :  A  General  View.         23 

116  it  is  highly  complimentary  to  the  teacher  both 
in  plan,  patient  loving  spirit,  and  result. 

First,  then,  what  is  the  material  to  be  educated  ? 
Prime.  Good  in  heredity,  children  of  God,  princes, 
pure,  innocent,  made  in  the  image  and  like- 
ness of  the  Infinite  with  dominion  over  all  things 
waiting  for  them  as  soon  as  they  were  sufficiently 
developed  to  manage  it.  The  Prince  of  Wales, 
either  in  the  matter  of  ancestral  stock  or  extent  of 
dominion  never  began  to  have  such  an  auspicious 
start. 

But  man  at  the  cradle  of  the  race  must  be  trained 
primarily  in  character,  secondarily  in  knowledge. 
How  was  it  attempted?  Bj  self-restraint  giving 
will-power.  For  this  self-restraint  a  single  rule  is 
made  touching  his  appetites ;  a  certain  kind  of 
fruit  is  forbidden.  Rules  are  necessary  in  school, 
necessary  in  our  life-college,  necessary  in  the 
university  of  the  next  life.  Do  not  touch  fire. 
Do  not  fall  off  a  precipice.  Come  in  out  of  the 
storm.  Do  not  eat  poisonous  berries.  In  all  things, 
always,  everywhere  observe  the  conditions  of  best 
existence.  Man's  first  trial  was  under  a  single  rule 
only.  He  broke  that.  They  do  yet  sometimes, 
for  the  will  must  be  free.  Natural  results  followed, 
shame,  deterioration  of  character  and  surroundings. 
The  body,  appetite,  passion,  was  regnant.      The 


24  The  Bible: 

spirit  was  subject.  For  the  mastery  of  passions 
there  is  nothing  like  hard  work.  So  let  the  earth 
bring  forth  thistles  and  thorns,  and  let  man's  estate 
be  one  of  labor.  * 

How  can  words  express,  or  even  thought  con- 
ceive, this  dread  catastrophe  ?  Herein  are  involved 
not  only  those  fierce  violences  that  would  destroy 
society  and  must  be  restrained  by  human  laws  of 
a  repressive  character,  even  to  the  extent  of  judi- 
cially killing  offenders  for  the  general  safety,  but 
also  a  sundering  from  God,  and  a  personal  degen- 
eracy that  well-nigh  takes  all  light  out  of  the  sky 
and  hope  out  of  the  heart  for  long  and  dolorous 
ages.  But  let  it  be  remembered  that  sin  was  a 
foreign  element,  a  deviation  from  the  order  of  na- 
ture, a  defiance  of  the  conditions  of  best  existence. 
It  is  a  fall  of  man  immeasurably  disastrous. 

Kow  what  is  attempted  for  recovery  ?  First  in 
the  Bible  is  the  creation  hymn  set  to  such  music 
that  it  would  sing  itself  in  rhythmic  numbers  in 
the  speech  of  succeeding  ages.  What  did  it  teach  ? 
First,  that  there  was  a  God  who  was  the  source  of 
all  things.  The  revelation  gave  at  once  and  at  first 
the  highest  truth  of  all  philosophy,  namely,  that 
this  world  of  matter  did  not  come  of  itself,  was 
not  a  whirl  of  chance,  not  an  evolution  from  below 
upward,  but  rather  that  it  was  from  above  down- 


Why  Written  :  A  General  Yikw.         25 

ward.  Nature  is  a  projection  from  previous  exist- 
ence and  actuality  and  laws,  and  if  one  may  only 
get  at  spiritual  laws  he  may  easily  get  the  cue  for 
understanding  material  laws.  Anyone  who  truly 
looks  at  material  nature  will  look  not  at  the  things 
that  are  seen,  but  at  the  things  that  are  not  seen. 
O,  had  men  accepted  the  first  syllable  of  revela- 
tion, "  In  the  beginning  God —  "  they  would  have 
been  saved  floundering  in  limbo  for  thousands  of 
years. 

This  revelation  not  only  told  that  there  was  a 
God,  but  fixed  the  fact  that  there  was  only  one 
God.  I  know  nothing  that  could  be  more  helpful 
to  man.  He  was  fallen,  and  his  contracted  mind 
was  too  small  to  rise  to  such  lofty  thought.  He 
was  sure  to  worship  some  fragment  of  a  god.  The 
grand  conception  of  one  God  has  been  broken  into 
millions  of  shining  shards  by  the  men  belittled  by 
sin.  If  there  be  gods  many,  they  must  differ,  some 
less  powerful  and  less  good  than  others,  and  the 
less  good  the  man  is  the  less  good  the  gods  he  pre- 
fers. Hence  every  pet  lust  is  deified  and  so  adored 
that  even  man's  worship  is  his  farther  ruin.  But 
wherever  the  majestic  syllables  of  that  first  creation 
hymn  were  sung  man  is  called  back  to  the  broadest 
generalization  of  mind  and  the  highest  conception 
of  thought.     One  God  made  and  rules  the  earth. 


26  The  Bible: 

Recent  science,  with  eyes  wide  open  from  awe,  dis- 
covers broader  and  broader  laws  in  the  world,  till 
it  dares  the  enormous  leap  that  all  matter  may  be 
one  substance  and  all  phenomena  referable  to  a 
few,  if  not  to  one  law.  Daring  all  these  ages  the 
great  divine  assertion  of  one  cause  lias  been  wait- 
ing recognition  in  the  book  divine. 

Secondly,  He  taught  that  he  made  the  world  for 
men.  How  good  for  the  poor  wretch  who  is  the 
recipient  only  of  the  slings  and  arrows  of  out- 
rageous fortune,  the  kicks  and  cuffs  of  more  out- 
rageous men,  to  remember  that  he  was  made  for 
dominion  of  all  things,  and  that  his  Father's  tender 
care  is  trying  to  lead  him  back  to  excellence  and 
power. 

The  leading  is  not  very  successful  at  first.  It 
sometimes  occurs  that  the  young  man  and  the  young 
race  will  sow  their  wild  oats,  wisdom  will  not  be 
taken  by  parental  indorsement.  The  folly  must  be 
experienced.  Experience  teaches  a  dear  school,  but 
some  are  such  fools  that  they  will  learn  in  no  other. 

The  human  race  proved  to  be  a  kind  of  Jukes 
family,  with  lust  and  murder  running  riot,  till  in 
about  sixteen  hundred  years  the  earth  was  filled 
with  violence,  till  all  flesh  had  corrupted  its  way 
upon  the  earth,  till  every  imagination  of  the  heart 
of  man  was  evil  continually.  The  only  way  to  save 


Why  Written  :  A  General  Yiew.         27 

the  fairly  good  family  of  Noali  was  to  wash  the 
unclean  earth  with  a  deluge  and  begin  again. 
Young  people  who  have  never  brought  up  any 
children  may  think  they  could  have  done  better. 
But  if  they  could  there  are  millions  of  heathen  on 
which  such  excellent  ability  should  be  tried  at  once. 

Four  hundred  years  after  the  deluge  came  the 
call  of  Abraham.  This  seems  like  a  brief  state- 
ment of  two  thousand  years'  work.  But  at  no 
time  was  the  divine  solicitude  relaxed  or  the  di- 
vine effort  abated.  God  personally  met  the  first 
murderer  face  to  face.  There  was  no  cool  evening 
of  any  day  that  the  good  Father  did  not  try  to 
meet  his  wayward  cliildren.  The  system  of  sacri- 
lice  was  inaugurated  and  perpetuated.  The  Mes- 
sianic hope  brightened  along  the  darkening  path- 
way of  man,  and  there  were  kings  and  priests  of 
the  most  high  God,  like  Melchizedek,  appointed 
we  know  not  how  often.  It  is  at  the  condensed 
perspective  of  six  thousand  years  we  are  looking. 

The  call  of  Abraham  was  the  call  of  the  only 
man  found  susceptible  of  tlie  peculiar  divine  cul- 
ture he  received.  God  would  have  been  glad  to 
have  called  a  thousand  such  men.  By  some  con- 
verging lines  of  excellence,  by  natural  selection 
since  Peleg  four  generations  back,  there  was  born 
to   Terah    in   the  land   of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  a 


28  The  Bible: 

child  who  had  aptitudes  and  faculties  and  will  to 
know  and  obey  God.  After  centuries  of  ugliness 
the  human  aloe  had  burst  into  gorgeous  flower. 
God  took  immediate  advantage  of  it  and  began  an 
education  of  Abraham  that  lasted  a  hundred  years, 
and  in  his  children  for  thousands. 

Let  us  remember  this  was  not  the  only  effort 
or  success.  There  was  Enoch,  who  walked  so 
closely  with  God  that  death,  the  penalty  of  sin,  was 
remitted  in  his  case,  and  he  was  not,  for  God  took 
him.  That  was  a  success  so  great  that  it  has  not 
been  achieved  in  our  day  at  all, 

Abraham's  education  was  a  training  in  faith  in 
God  and  obedience  to  his  will.  The  lessons  were 
very  hard,  the  success  sublime.  The  first  lesson 
was  this  command  :  "  Get  thee  out  of  thy  country 
and  from  thy  kindred  and  from  thy  father's  house." 
It  was  a  sacrifice  of  every  earthly  good,  means  of 
support,  prospective  sheikship,  and  going  into  exile, 
a  complete  surrender  to  God.  It  was  a  question 
of  finding  some  one  who  would  let  God  come  into 
his  life  as  guide,  friend,  and  helper,  and  who  would 
begin  a  lineage  with  which  God  could  once  more 
work.  He  was  far  from  perfect  at  first.  He  went 
where  God  did  not  direct  him.  His  old  propen- 
sity of  self -guidance  got  him  into  trouble  w^here  he 
tried  to  lie  his  way  out,  and  God  had  to  come  to 


Why  Written:  A  General  View.         29 

his  aid ;  but  as  the  century  went  bj  he  improved 
till  God  could  say  to  him  at  length  :  "  Kow,  Abra 
ham,  walk  before  me  and  be  thou  perfect."  Abra- 
ham's seed  was  divinely  delayed  till  his  fires  of 
youth  had  burned  ont,  till  the  wisdom  of  age  had 
come,  until  his  divine  education  was  complete. 
He  had  come  to  ability  to  command  his  children, 
not  only  while  he  lived,  but  in  the  generations 
after  him,  before  he  had  any  given  him. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  these  favors  were  not 
for  any  individual  use  and  exaltation,  but  from  the 
first  it  was  declared  that  these  gifts  were  for  all 
mankind.  "  In  him  shall  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  be  blessed."  That  one  sentence  is  enough 
to  show  that  it  was  not  any  plan  of  any  man,  but 
a  plan  worthy  of  the  God  of  all  the  earth.  In 
every  far-off  power  and  help  to  the  Jew  was  bound 
up  a  blessing  to  the  Gentile  of  to-day.  This  ex- 
ceptional education  of  one  family  does  not  prevent 
every  possible  good  to  every  other  family  at  the 
same  time.  Indeed,  that  mistaken  and  uncom- 
manded  flow  of  Abraham's  blood  through  the 
bond  slave  Hagar  was  taken  advantage  of  in  the 
seed  Ishmael  to  give  the  world  a  positive  blessing 
through  Mohammedanism,  overturning  polytheism 
and  establishing  monotheism  in  a  vast  region  of 
the  earth.     That  God's  care  of  other  nations  was 


30  The  Bible: 

as  lofty  and  unremitting  as  possible  is  seen  in  Mel- 
chizedek ;  in  Job  ;  in  annihilating  the  ancient  tribes 
of  Canaan  who  had  exalted  the  most  debasing  and 
destructive  vices  into  virtues,  and  deified  such 
lusts  as  brought  an  ineadicable  leprosy  into  all  their 
blood ;  in  sending  Jonah  to  Nineveh,  Daniel  to 
Babylon,  Esther  to  be  queen  in  Shushan  ;  in  put- 
ting the  Old  Testament  into  Greek  in  time  to 
affect  the  highest  Greek  philosophy,  etc.  God 
cared  for  all  nations  as  far  as  they  would  let  him, 
and  in  all  his  care  of  the  Jews  he  was  providing 
for  Gentiles  as  well. 

Return  to  the  college  curriculum  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  race.  It  is  not  far  from  Abraham  to 
the  twelve  patriarchs  going  to  Egypt,  and  the 
compacting  of  the  tribes  by  oppression  and  slavery, 
deliverance  and  separateness  from  other  nations  into 
a  nation  so  firm  that  it  could  never  be  disintegrated 
by  the  successes,  disasters,  expatriations,  and  re- 
turns of  more  than  three  thousand  years. 

Having  now  a  nation  just  brought  out  of  Egypt 
by  a  strong  and  stretched-out  arm,  what  could  be 
done  with  it  ?  Spite  of  every  effort  to  the  con- 
trary the  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  the  way  of 
approach  to  him,  and  the  means  whereby  he  could 
make  human  life  glorious  were  dwindling  away  in 
every  other  part  of  the  human  race.     They  did 


Why  Written  :  A  General  Yiew.         31 

not  like  to  retain  God  even  in  their  thought,  and 
he  had  to  give  them  over  to  work  all  uncleanness 
with  greediness. 

But  what  could  he  do  with  this  separated  peo- 
ple ?  First,  he  could  make  clear  his  existence  and 
omnipotent  power.  So  the  lofty  pillar  of  glorious 
cloud  bj  day  and  of  wreathing  fire  by  night  guides. 
So  the  Red  Sea  divides.  So  the  corpses  of  the 
mightiest  of  armies  are  rolled  by  its  waves ;  there  is 
no  fear  of  further  pursuit.  So  manna  is  furnished 
and  quail,  whereby  they  are  miraculously  fed.  So 
they  come  to  know  as  their  clearest  conception, 
the  most  certain  of  their  knowledge,  that  the  I 
Am,  the  one  Jehovah,  had  real  and  sure  existence. 
And  by  his  mastery  over  every  god  of  the  mighty 
Egyptians  and  his  mastery  over  the  Red  Sea  they 
come  to  know  equally  well  that  he  was  the  al- 
mighty God,  the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
who  would  never  weary. 

Secondly,  he  revealed  his  holiness.  Every  sin 
must  be  atoned  for.  Only  the  clean  and  perfect 
beasts  could  be  offered  in  sacrifice,  and  that  only 
when  purified  by  fire  and  offered  by  men  espe- 
cially set  apart  for  the  purpose.  If  any  man  of- 
fered strange  fire  he  died  on  the  spot.  The  smoke 
of  daily  offerings  wrote  upon  the  skies  that  God 
was  holy.     It  was  death  for  man  or  beast  to  touch 


32  The  Bible  : 

Mount  Sinai  when  God  came  down  upon  it.  All 
shifting,  shuffling,  go-as-you-please,  don't-care 
style  of  life  must  come  to  an  end.  All  life  worth 
the  name  must  be  under  due  conditions,  and  the 
higher  the  life  the  more  exact  the  conditions.  To 
be  an  astronomer  requires  more  accuracy  than  to 
be  a  shoveler  of  dirt.  And  the  spirit  of  a  just 
man  made  perfect  gladly  conforms  to  laws  that  a 
mere  astronomer  cannot  understand. 

A  table  of  laws  was  given  on  Sinai  for  all  man- 
kind, and  has  been  preserved  and  spread  to  all 
parts  of  the  earth.  This  decalogue  was  verbally 
inspired  and  inerrant. 

The  Mosaic  system  seems  to  have  had  two  ob- 
jects. First,  to  keep  alive  in  the  race  the  fast  fad- 
ing original  idea  of  one  God,  and  the  other  the 
fast  fading  idea  of  the  heinousness  and  destructive- 
ness  of  sin.  Hence  its  vivid  denunciations  of 
idolatry,  its  cutting  off  of  peoples  who  had  deified 
the  most  destructive  vices  and  lusts,  and  its  sudden 
destruction  of  men  flagrantly  guilty  of  breaking 
definite  commandments. 

God  not  only  revealed  his  existence  and  power, 
but  his  wisdom  as  well.  From  the  first  hour  of 
sin  he  always  kept  a  chain  of  predictions  of  future 
events  before  the  people — to  Adam  there  was  a 
promise  of  a  Redeemer ;  to  ISToah  the  prediction 


Why  Written  :  A  General  View.         33 

of  a  flood  ;  to  Abraham  a  prophecy  of  universal 
blessing  for  all  nations  through  him ;  to  Joseph 
that  he  should  be  delivered  from  prison ;  to  Mo- 
ses a  definite  statement  that  Pharaoh  should  let 
the  people  go.  There  are  always  plentiful  pre- 
dictions for  the  future  and  a  plentiful  fulfillment 
in  the  past.  These  prophets  were  a  peculiar  peo- 
ple. They  were  a  kind  of  unmuzzled  free  press 
at  the  time  when  there  were  no  newspapers.  They 
invaded  the  privacy  of  kings'  chambers  to  rebuke 
them  for  a  presumption  or  a  sin.  Gentle  David 
or  murderous  Ahab  were  sought  with  equal  readi- 
ness, and  not  only  sins  denounced,  but  their  own 
future  foretold.  It  takes  a  lofty  kind  of  man  to 
meet  Ahab  in  his  hour  of  victory  and  say :  "  In 
the  place  where  the  dogs  licked  the  blood  of  'Na- 
botli  shall  dogs  lick  thy  blood,  even  thine."  "  And 
the  dogs  shall  eat  Jezebel  thy  wife  by  tlie  wall  of 
Jezreel."  It  requires  a  peculiar  kind  of  man  to 
say  to  Belsliazzar :  "  Thou  art  weighed  in  the  bal* 
ances  and  found  wanting.  Thy  kingdom  is  di- 
vided and  given  to  the  Medes  and  Persians ; "  to 
cry  in  the  great  city  :  "  Yet  forty  days,  and  !N"ine- 
veh  shall  be  overthrown."  But  God  could  always 
find  the  men.  For  while  the  education  of  the 
race  did  not  make  all  good,  it  made  some  sublime. 

(3ut  of  the  general  level  of  the  people  an  occa- 
3 


34  The  Bible: 

sioiial  genius  shot  up  like  a  California  Sequoia 
Gigantea  among  manzanita  bushes.  And  this  gen- 
ius was  in  the  direction  of  the  general  training, 
namely,  religious.  General  literary  training  tends 
to  make  an  Elizabethan  age  ;  general  scientific 
training  tends  to  make  genius  flower  in  that  di- 
rection ;  and  general  religious  training  gives  men 
a  genius  for  the  loftiest  range  of  thinking  and 
living  possible  to  a  human  soul. 

In  this  hedged  in  and  secluded  nationality  there 
was  opportunity  for  the  cultivation  of  the  loftiest 
personal  piety.  It  is  not  claimed  that  the  Jews 
before  or  after  the  call  of  Abraham  were  a  dis- 
tinctively moral  people  surpassing  all  other  nations. 
The  best  opportunities  do  not  always  give  us  the 
best  boys.  But  it  is  claimed  they  did  keep  alive 
these  two  ideas  of  one  Almighty  God  and  the  ex- 
ceeding sinfulness  of  sin,  and  give  special  oppor- 
tunity for  the  cultivation  of  personal  piety.  In 
this  there  was  a  glorious  success.  There  was 
personal  piety  enough  and  lofty  enough  to  indite 
there  in  little  Judea,  in  the  very  beginning  of 
Jewish  history,  the  manual  of  devotion  for  all  the 
world  for  all  subsequent  ages.  "We  are  profoundly 
astonished  that  those  who  were  just  out  of  a  most 
crushing  and  murderous  slavery  should  voice 
thought  60  high  and  broad,  love  to  God  so  tender 


Why  Wkittejst  :  A  General  Yiew.        36 

and  close,  that  none  of  our  saints  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  poets  of  our  latter  day  culture,  can 
write  songs  to  surpass  them.  Why  are  we  reading 
as  the  most  appropriate  to  our  loftiest  worship  the 
songs  of  the  early  Hebrews?  It  is  not  because 
they  had  more  culture  and  poetic  instinct  than  we, 
but  because  God  breathed  over  tlieir  hearts  and 
over  their  harps  words  of  immortal  worth. 

These  psalms  were  not  made  for  any  one  race  or 
age,  but  for  all.  In  defiance  of  all  their  pro- 
vincialism and  their  being  a  peculiar  people,  and 
that  Jehovah  was  especially  the  God  of  the  Jews, 
their  temple  constantly  rang  with  assertions  that 
he  was  the  great  King  of  all  the  earth.  "  O,  praise 
the  Lord,  all  ye  heathen,  praise  him  all  ye  nations." 
The  following  sentences  never  could  have  been 
written  by  an  unaided  Jew  :  "  Whither  shall  I  go 
from  thy  Spirit  ?  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy 
presence  ?  If  I  ascend  np  into  heaven,  thou  art 
there :  if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art 
there.  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell 
in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea ;  even  there  shall 
thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me. 
If  I  say,  Surely  the  darkness  shall  cover  me ;  even 
the  night  shall  be  light  about  me.  Yea,  the  dark- 
ness hideth  not  from  thee ;  but  the  night  shineth  as 
the  day:    the   darkness  and  the  light  are   both 


36  The  Bible: 

alike  to  thee."  Great  old  rugged  John  Bright 
says  he  would  cheerfully  rest  the  whole  question  of 
the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  on  the  Psalms.  And 
when  we  find  that  the  utterance  of  God's  uni- 
versality, power,  glory,  and  of  man's  praise,  trust, 
love,  sight  of  God  in  nature,  and  of  his  deep, 
heart-breaking  penitence  for  sin  surpass  anything 
we  can  find  in  literature  since  that  time,  we  must 
all  say,  God  was  in  the  hearts  and  on  the  lips  of 
men  who  wrote  these  immortal  words. 

It  was  not  merely  by  laws,  prophets,  sacrifice, 
and  Sinai  that  God  taught  his  people.  He  turned 
all  their  daily  life  into  an  expression  of  his  abiding 
presence,  of  his  favor  or  his  wrath.  He  put  them 
into  a  good  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 
But  he  smote  it  with  blasting  and  mildew,  canker 
worms  and  caterpillars  ;  the  heavens  were  brass 
over  their  heads  and  the  earth  iron  under  their 
feet,  and  on  their  broad  and  burning  pages  were 
written  God's  judgments  for  their  sins.  Nay, 
more,  the  predicted  and  specified  enemies  were 
brought  up  against  their  impenitence,  and  the 
cities  wasted  and  the  land  harried  with  the  direst 
war  and  the  people  driven  out  into  exile  and  ex- 
patriation for  their  sins.  But  in  all  their  weeping 
by  the  rivers  of  Babylon  there  was  always  promise 
of  return  if  they  would  repent.    There  was  no  top- 


Why  Written  :  A  General  View.         37 

pling  surge  of  ruin  just  breaking  on  the  heads  of  a 
doomed  nation  tliat  would  not  turn  to  a  wave  of 
prosperity  if  men  would  repent.  Jeremiah  lays 
down  the  regular  rule  :  "  At  what  instant  I  shall 
speak  concerning  a  nation,  and  concerning  a  king- 
dom, to  pluck  up,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy 
it ;  if  that  nation,  against  whom  I  have  pronounced, 
turn  from  their  evil,  I  will  repent  of  the  evil  that 
I  thought  to  do  unto  them.  And  at  what  instant 
I  shall  speak  concerning  a  nation,  and  concerning  a 
kingdom,  to  build  and  to  plant  it ;  if  it  do  evil  in 
my  sight,  that  it  obey  not  my  voice,  then  I  will  re- 
pent of  the  good,  wherewith  I  said  I  would  benefit 
them."  And  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  did  return 
and  come  to  Zion  with  songs  and  everlasting  Joy 
upon  their  heads.  So  their  daily  life  was  pros- 
perity or  adversity,  their  whole  history  a  pean  or  a 
lamentation,  according  as  they  served  or  rebelled 
against  the  Lord  their  King. 

In  one  singular  fact  the  Hebrews  differed  from 
all  other  nations.  These  looked  backward  for 
their  golden  age,  the  time  of  innocence  and  joy. 
They  had  traditions  of  an  Eden  lost  in  the  past, 
but  not  of  another  attainable  in  the  future.  The 
great  fact  of  downfall  and  expulsion  had  made  more 
vivid  impression  than  a  dim  promise  of  recovery. 
Quite  otherwise  with  the  Jews.     The  first  promise 


38  The  Bible: 

of  a  Redeemer  made  in  the  presence  of  the  first 
sin  was  never  lost  out  of  sight.  Wliat  was  then  a 
hint  of  dawning  broadened  into  a  clear  day  of  ex- 
p3ctation.  Dean  Stanley  admirably  expresses  tliis 
growing  hope  :  "  It  was  the  distinguishing  mark  of 
the  Jewish  people  that  their  golden  age  was  not  in 
the  past,  but  in  tlie  future ;  that  their  greatest 
hero  (as  they  deemed  him  to  be)  was  not  their 
Founder,  but  their  Founder's  latest  Descendant. 
Their  traditions,  their  fancies,  their  glories, 
gathered  round  the  head,  not  of  a  chief  or  warrior 
or  sage  that  had  been,  but  of  a  King,  a  Deliverer, 
a  Prophet  who  was  to  come.  Of  this  singular  ex- 
pectation the  prophets  were,  if  not  the  chief 
authors,  at  least  the  chief  exponents.  Sometimes 
he  is  named,  sometimes  he  is  unnamed  ;  sometimes 
he  is  almost  identified  with  some  actual  prince  of 
the  present  or  coming  generation  ;  sometimes  he 
recedes  into  the  distant  ages.  But  again  and  again, 
at  least  in  the  late  prophetic  writings,  the  vista  is 
closed  by  this  person,  his  character,  his  reign.  And 
almost  everywhere  the  prophetic  spirit  in  the  delin- 
eation of  his  coming  remains  true  to  itself.  He  is  to 
be  a  king,  a  conqueror,  yet  not  by  the  common 
weapons  of  earthly  warfare,  but  by  those  only  weap- 
ons which  the  prophetic  order  recognized  by  jus- 
tice, mercy,  truth,  and  goodness  ;  by  suffering,  by 


Why  Written  :  A  General  Yiew,         39 

endurance,  by  identification  of  himself  with  the 
joys,  the  sufferings  of  liis  nation  ;  by  opening  a  wider 
sympathy  to  the  whole  human  race  than  had  ever 
been  offered  before.  That  this  expectation,  however 
explained,  existed  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  among 
the  prophets  is  not  doubted  by  any  theologians  of 
any  school  whatever.  It  is  no  matter  of  controversy. 
It  is  a  simply  and  universally  recognized  fact,  that, 
filled  with  these  prophetic  images,  the  whole  Jewish 
nation — nay,  at  last  the  whole  Eastern  world — did 
look  forward  with  longing  expectation  to  the 
coming  of  this  future  Conqueror.  Was  this  un- 
paralleled expectation  realized  ?  And  here  again  I 
speak  only  of  facts  which  are  acknowledged  by 
Germans  and  Frenchmen  not  less  than  by  English- 
men, by  critics  and  skeptics  even  more  than  by 
theologians  and  ecclesiastics.  There  did  arise  out 
of  this  nation  a  Character  as  unparalleled  as  the 
expectation  which  had  preceded  him.  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was,  on  the  most  superficial,  no  less  than 
the  deepest,  view  of  his  coming,  the  greatest  name, 
the  most  extraordinary  power,  that  has  ever  crossed 
the  stage  of  history.  And  this  greatness  consisted 
not  in  outward  power,  but  precisely  in  those  quali- 
ties in  which  from  first  to  last  the  prophetic  order 
had  laid  the  utmost  stress — justice  and  love,  good- 
ness and  truth." 


40  The  Bible: 

O,  divinest  of  marvels,  O,  sweetest  of  outcomes. 
We  have  here  reached  tlie  innermost  heart  of  God's 
word,  nay,  of  God  himself.  We  go  over  to  old 
Egypt  and  Babylon  and  IN^ineveh  with  some  inter- 
est in  others.  We  traverse  the  region  of  the  Ked 
Sea  and  the  Sinai  tic  peninsula  with  adoring  won- 
der that  the  power  that  at  first  made  the  mountains 
go  up  and  the  seas  go  down  unto  the  place  prepared 
for  them  still  has  power  over  rivers  and  seas  to 
divide  them,  still  has  power  over  mountains  to  make 
them  skip  like  lambs.  But  we  come  near  Calvary 
to  see  power  and  love  and  sacrifice  and  redemption 
of  man  that  is  worthy  of  the  infinite  God.  One 
must  be  very  high  to  bend  so  very  low.  One  must 
be  infinite  to  concentrate  such  measureless  love  on 
enemies  and  murderers. 

A  marvelous  thing  now  appears  most  distinctly. 
When  as  yet  the  human  family  was  all  in  one  pair 
the  promise  of  a  Redeemer  was  made  to  the  race. 
When  Abraham  was  called  and  separated  it  was 
made  known  that  in  him  should  all  the  families  of 
the  earth  be  blessed.  All  through  the  Psalms,  the 
history  of  Job  and  Jonah,  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah 
and  Ezekiel,  we  have  seen  that  Israel  was  not  alone 
the  object  of  divine  care.  And  now  in  the  full- 
ness of  time  comes  the  promised  Redeemer,  who 
says  he  has  overcome  the  whole  world,  who  even 


Why  Written  :  A  General  View,        41 

talks  of  sheep  not  of  the  Jewish,  perhaps  not  of 
this  world's  fold,  prajs  for  us  all  who  shall  ever 
believe  on  him  through  the  disciples'  word,  that 
the  whole  world  may  believe  that  God  sent  him. 
Then  he  dies  for  all  mankind,  commands  his  dis- 
ciples to  "go  into  all  the  earth  and  preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature.  And,  lo,  I  am  with  jou 
alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world."  In  the 
Pentecost  he  pours  out  his  Spirit  on  representatives 
of  nearly  a  score  of  nations.  He  broke  in  on  Pe- 
ter's exclusiveness  and  ordered  him  to  go  to  Cor- 
nelius, a  Roman.  He  even  called  his  best  and 
chief  est  apostle  from  the  Gentiles  and  endowed 
him  with  power  proportioned  to  the  vastness  of  his 
work,  and  is  now  penetrating  the  dark  places  of 
the  earth  with  light  and  the  islands  of  the  sea  with 
his  salvation. 

Antony  says  at  the  murder  of  great  Caesar : 

*'0,  what  a  fall  was  there,  my  countrymen. 
There  you  and  I  all  of  us  fell  down 
Whilst  bloody  treason  flourished  over  us." 

But  when  the  Prince  of  Life  was  killed  there 
you  and  I  were  made  alive,  and  all  of  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  to  the  last  man  in  the  last  syllable  of 
recorded  time,  was  bought  for  life,  eternal  life. 

I  have  thus  vindicated,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the 
statement  made  at  the  beginning,  that  the  Bible  is 


42  The  Bible. 

history  with  the  flesh  off,  with  its  hidden  motives, 
potencies,  and  age-long  plans  made  clear.  In  this 
book  we  get  the  real  philosophy  of  history.  Outside 
of  it  there  are  two  other  conceptions.  First,  that 
of  idealism  as  represented  by  Hegel  in  his  Philos- 
ophy of  History.  It  is  so  written  that  each  one 
of  a  dozen  differing  men  declares  he  has  caught 
the  master's  great  idea,  while  every  one  of  the 
other  eleven  is  sure  he  has  not.  Hegel  is  so  ideal 
in  physics  that  he  calls  the  demonstrated  fact  of 
seven  colors  in  white  light  "a  barbarism  over 
which  one  cannot  express  himself  too  strongly. 
As  though  a  pure  stream  of  water  could  originate 
from  seven  kinds  of  earth."  One  such  mistake  in 
the  Bible  would  have  filled  the  world  with  mock- 
ing laughter.  When  this  philosophy  of  idealism 
comes  to  the  practical  infinity  of  nature  and  man, 
and  attempts  to  find  an  explanation  of  every  phe- 
nomena in  the  past  and  every  possibility  in  the 
future  by  its  inner  light,  it  shows  its  infantile  per- 
formance by  not  being  able  to  do  one  or  the  other, 
and  its  stupendous  presumption  by  forgetting  that 
there  may  be  thoughts  as  much  above  its  thoughts 
as  there  are  certainly  powers  above  its  powers.  Let 
its  thin  bubbles  of  gas  explode  in  upper  air.  Not 
one  of  earth's  strong  pillars  breaks  or  bends. 
We  have  latterly  the  other  conception :  a  philos* 


Why  Written  :  A  General  View.         43 

ophj  of  statistics  for  history.  It  is  called  sociology, 
and  has  Buckle  and  Spencer  for  apostles.  How 
little  it  touches  the  great  deep  of  human  feeling 
and  deF\e.  How  it  takes  the  kernel  out  of  hu- 
manity, and  leaves  the  dry  husks  to  be  driven  by 
forces  that  are  only  the  tempests  of  law. 

But  the  philosophy  of  histoiy  as  given  in  this 
book  is  that  there  has  been  perpetual  effort  of 
a  power  above  humanity,  full  of  wisdom,  full 
of  love,  ever  trying  to  develop  man  by  every  pos- 
sible agency — by  the  hard  bumps  of  necessary  laws ; 
by  hungers,  thirsts,  and  the  clamoring  needs  of 
the  body ;  by  the  schoolmaster  that  tells  what  and 
why  law  is ;  by  a  teacher  who  leads  on  from  sim- 
plest object-lessons  fit  for  a  child  to  lessons  no 
philosopher  can  yet  fathom,  not  a  teacher  merely, 
but  an  Elder  Brother  who  takes  up  our  life,  and 
shows  in  himself  its  possibilities,  who  brings  a  di- 
vine light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world,  who  sends  a  Comforter  that  leads  into 
all  truth,  who  finds  a  way  to  remedy  the  deform- 
ities, palsies,  and  perversities  of  our  nature  by 
recreating  it  anew  after  the  divine  likeness,  with 
aptitudes  for  receiving  again  the  outflowings  of 
divine  aid,  and  the  whole  renewed  man  thrilled 
with  the  full  heart-beats  of  an  infinite  love  that 
passeth  knowledge.     May  it  bless  us  all  forever. 


II. 

THE  BIBLE :  ITS  IDEALS. 


SYLLABUS. 


II.  SUBJECT — The  Bible  :  Its  Ideals. 

As  are  the  Ideals^  so  is  the  Life: 

What  ideals  has  the  Bible  about  God  ?     (a)  Infinitely  strong  ;  {V)  Wise  ; 

(c)  Omnipresent ;  {d)  Spiritual ;  {e)  Holy. 
What  ideals  of  man  :     (a)  Made  in  God's  image  ;  (h)  To  have  dominion 

over  all. 

After  Sin^  its  Consequent  Weakness  and  Deaths   What? 
Divine  love,  care,  teaching,  leading. 

What  Ideals  for  Man? 

(a)  Long  life  ;  (i)  Full  health  ;  (c)  Wisdom  ;  (d)  Various  braveries.  The 
New  Testament  ideals  surpass  the  Old.  Its  long  life  is  eternal,  its 
wealth  everlasting,  its  communion  divine,  its  life  jubilant,  its  ideal  a 
perfect  stature  of  manhood. 

The  Bible  Demands  and  Creates  Breadth  0/  Soul : 

{a)  Gives  largest  ideas  of  the  material  universe  ;  {b)  Establishes  true 
sympathy  and  union  among  men ;  (c)  Offers  freedom  and  power  to 
procure  it ;  {</)  All  men  one  blood  brotherhood. 

Grand  Ideals  0/  Future  Life  :  Pagan  Conceptions  Horrible  : 

Biblical  ideals:  (a)  Fullness  of  life;  ((5)  No  sickness;  (<:)  Pain; 
(cC)  Weariness  ;  {e)  Night. 

What  Ideals  for  the  Masses  ? 

The  unit  is  the  family  ;  in  it  love  and  unity.  It  cares  for  the  lower 
classes  to  make  them  higher.  Shows  conditions  of  adversity  and  pros- 
perity.    Makes  for  peace  and  union  among  nations. 

licence  these  Lofty  Ideals? 

Neither  from  Poetry,  Science,  nor  Philosophy,  but  from  Revelation. 
They  were  projected  from  a  higher  sphere  into  ours.  Scripture  is  by 
inspiration. 


IL 

THE  BIBLE:  ITS  IDEALS. 

AS  are  the  ideals  so  is  the  life.  Thej  are  the 
standard  to  which  we  grow  and  shape  our- 
selves. As  the  tabernacle  was  built  according 
to  the  pattern  shown  to  Moses  in  the  mount,  as 
the  material  universe  is  sliaped  according  to  the 
ideal  in  the  mind  of  the  Creator,  so  the  outcomes 
of  our  lives  depend  on  the  thought-models  on 
which  they  are  built.  Whether  masses  of  stone 
mean  a  rockery  where  snakes  and  toads  dwell,  or 
St.  Peter's,  lofty  enough  for  the  clouds  to  float 
in  and  for  angels  to  fly  in  admiring  wonder,  de- 
pends on  the  ideal  in  the  mind  of  the  architect. 
The  ideals  of  many  religions  are  degrading.  All 
conceptions  of  God  outside  of  the  Bible  are  built 
up  by  exaggerating  and  distorting  the  faculties,  pas- 
sions, and  powers  of  men.  Men  cannot  origi- 
nate any  god  that  is  not  some  imaginative  vari- 
ation of  themselves.  Mohammed  represents  angels 
so  large  that  it  would  take  a  bird  seventy-nine 
thousand  years  to  fly  from  one  car  to  the  other. 
The  whole  creation  of  man-made  divinities  is  per- 


48  The  Bible: 

fectly  characterized  by  God  in  the  fiftieth  Psalm : 
"Thou  thoughtest  that  I  was  altogether  such  an 
one  as  thyself."  Caliban  creates  a  Setebos  to  suit 
his  ideas.  The  Bible  procedure  is  exactly  the  re- 
verse. It  gives  us  an  idea  of  God  infinitely  glori- 
ous, and  draws  man  from  him.  Man  is  his  child, 
not  God  man's  creation. 

First,  what  are  the  Bible  ideals  about  God  ?  The 
first  word  he  is  represented  as  speaking,  "  Let 
there  be  light,  and  there  was  light,"  is  the  standard 
of  the  greatest  sublimity  in  language  or  thought. 
He  appears  at  once  as  an  infinite  Creator,  handling 
hills,  seas,  worlds,  and  suns  as  a  man  marshals 
words.  "Hast  thou  not  known,  hast  thou  not 
heard,  that  the  everlasting  God,  the  Lord,  the  Cre- 
ator of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  fainteth  not,  neither 
is  weary  ? "  He  speaks,  and  it  is  done ;  he  com- 
mands, and  it  stands  fast.  He  upholdeth  all  things 
by  the  w^ord  of  his  power. 

The  Bible  makes  God  immanent  in  all  nature. 
His  almightiness  may  be  latent  at  any  point  ready 
to  be  developed.  Gravitation  has  no  other  expla- 
nation. 

The  great  achievements  of  our  age  have  been 
wrought  by  taking  out  the  latent  energy  from  the 
coal-beds.  But  this  is  only  one  kind  of  power, 
and  evidently  a  low  one.     It  is  now  held  by  science 


Its  Ideals.  49 

that  God  lias  put  ten  thousand  foot-tons  of  latent 
energy  in  every  cubic  foot  of  ether  in  space.  AYe 
are  beginning  to  use  it  as  electricity.  But  man, 
the  infant  Hercules,  has  not  yet  left  his  cradle. 
What  he  may  do  with  this  measureless  energy 
when  he  rises  to  his  designed  dominion  is  yet  un- 
thinkable. 

Not  only  is  he  infinitely  strong,  but  infinitely 
wise.  There  is  no  searching  of  his  understanding. 
in  wisdom  he  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 
All  the  wisdom  w^e  get  out  of  them  and  call 
science  he  first  put  into  them,  and  a  thousandfold 
more.  Ko  wonder  Paul  exclaims,  "  In  him  are 
hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  O 
the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and 
knowledge  of  God !  how  unsearchable  are  his 
judgments,  and  his  ways  past  findine-  out."  Thou 
understandest  my  thought  before  I  do. 

Add  to  almightiness  and  omniscience  omnipres- 
ence. That  is  the  spirituality  of  God,  without 
body  or  parts.  Add  the  eternity  of  his  existence 
and  chant  the  pean,  "  Before  the  mountains  were 
brought  forth,  or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the  earth 
and  the  world,  even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting, 
thou  art  God.  For  a  thousand  years  in  thy  sight  are 
but  as  yesterday  when  it  is  past,  and  as  a  watch 

in  the  night."     Bejxiember  that  this  God  is  rep- 
4 


60  The  Bible: 

resented  as  rigliteous,  just,  and  liolj,  and  all  hu 
man  conceptions  of  God  are  left  behind.  Let  our 
spirits  be  subdued  with  holy  awe  while  we  cry, 
"  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  of  hosts,  heaven 
and  earth  are  full  of  thy  glory.  Glory  be  to  thee, 
O  Lord,  most  high  !  "  This  God  of  the  Bible  shall 
be  our  God  forever  and  ever. 

Such  being  the  lofty  conception  of  God,  what  is 
the  ideal  of  man  ?  The  first  word  about  man  is, 
"  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  like- 
ness :  and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish 
of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over 
the  cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth."  I  submit  that 
no  such  lofty  origin  and  destiny  can  elsewhere 
be  found  in  human  language  or  thought.  Turn 
over  the  old  mythologies.  They  are  beggarly  poor. 
In  going  back  to  man's  beginning,  man's  imagi- 
nation has  no  ground  to  stand  upon.  All  is  chaos, 
limbo,  anarchy,  and  old  night.  But  your  great 
revelation  says  that  God  breatlied  his  own  self  into 
man  for  a  soul.  The  qualities  of  power,  wisdom, 
justice,  holiness,  everlastingness  went  by  laws  of 
heredity  from  Father  to  son;  and  the  infinite 
King  naturally  prepared  his  child  for  dominion. 
Scientists  sometimes  go  to  the  zoological  gardens 
for  their  ancestry ;  but  the  Bible  goes  to  the  Eden 
garden  for  ours.     Science  seeks  its  fatherhood  in 


Its  Ideals.  61 

inferior  animals  ;  the  Bible  finds  it  in  the  infi- 
nite  God.  Any  lover  of  the  Bible  can  be  proud 
of  his  origin  and  the  measureless  possibilities  in- 
dicated therein  and  thereby.  These  possibilities 
are  indicated  in  the  dominion  he  is  to  enjoy.  That 
is  what  he  is  created  for,  what  his  aptitudes  teach 
him  to  seek.  No  promising  child  is  three  months 
old  before  he  seeks  dominion  over  and  manage- 
ment of  his  parents.  Young  as  he  is  he  thinks  it 
his  prerogative  to  bring  them  up  rightly.  He 
lays  his  hand  of  power  on  the  cat,  dog,  horse,  en- 
gine, and  lightning  in  turn.  It  is  natural  for  him. 
It  is  what  he  was  made  for.  It  is  natural  for  the 
huge  horse,  strong  steam,  swift  lightning  to  obey. 
That  is  what  they  were  made  for.  The  Scripture 
ideal  for  man  was  not  actualized  at  once.  It  was 
too  large  and  man  by  sin  became  too  feeble.  But 
ihe  plan  and  design  for  the  eternal  King's  own  son 
NSLS  a  dominion  we  have  not  reached  yet.  God's 
image  and  God's  empireship  go  together.  Lose 
the  first  and  you  forfeit  the  second.  The  way  to 
get  the  second  is  to  regain  the  first. 

What  man  does  not  feel  nobler  for  such  an  ori- 
gin, stronger  for  such  a  destiny,  and  more  in  love 
with  him  who  makes  such  a  revelation  ? 

But  after  the  divinely  given  image  has  been 
shattered,  the  divinely  designed  destiny  has  been 


52  The  Bible: 

spurned,  what  ideals  of  God  are  offered  ?  Is  there 
such  anger  in  the  celestial  mind  as  made  Juno 
pursue  ^neas  with  burning  iiate  over  all  lands 
and  seas  ?  Ah,  no.  Now  the  revelation  is  of 
God's  love.  He  chooses  a  friend  among  these 
fallen  men  and  tries  to  choose  a  million ;  he  calls 
over  a  whole  nation  recreant  to  his  will,  "  I  have 
loved  thee  with  an  everlasting  love."  I  have  given 
constant  care  as  a  mother ;  holding  you  by  the  arms 
I  taught  you  to  go.  The  strength  of  your  man- 
hood was  only  trembling  infancy  in  the  lofty  paths 
I  tried  to  make  you  travel.  How  can  I  give  thee 
up,  O  Ephraim  ? 

Out  of  this  love  comes  care.  He  will  lead  I&= 
rael  like  a  flock.  He  will  bear  the  lambs  in  liis 
bosom  and  gently  lead  those  that  are  with  young. 

But  what  are  the  Old  Testament  ideals  for  man 
after  the  fall  by  sin  ?  First,  long  life.  Do  you 
like  it?  Do  men  regret  that  a  life  of  labor  is  not 
crowned  with  length  of  days  to  enjoy  wisdom  and 
honor  acquired  ?  The  Bible  gives  on  Sinai  the  com- 
mand, "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother:  that  thy 
days  may  be  long  upon  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy 
God  givetli  thee."  "  Length  of  days  "  is  in  the  right 
hand  of  the  wisdom  it  offers.  It  is  not  destitute 
of  means  to  produce  this  desired  end.  As  sin 
brought  death  by  a  thousand  degrees  of  weakness 


Its  Ideals.  63 

and  depravation,  so  righteousness  tendeth  to  life. 
In  the  full  acceptance  of  the  blessings  of  the  Gos« 
pel,  "  There  shall  be  no  n^iore  an  infant  of  days  nor 
an  old  man  that  hath  not  filled  his  days."  "As  the 
days  of  a  tree  are  the  days  of  my  people,  and  mine 
elect  shall  long  enjoy  the  work  of  their  hands." 
As  I  write  I  can  see  beyond  trees  that  have  been 
in  perennial  life  for  a  thousand  years.  Surely  the 
promise  of  God  may  be  true  to  those  who  abide 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty.  "  With  long 
life  shall  I  satisfy  him  and  show  him  my  salvation." 
But  life  needs  more  than  duration  to  be  worth 
livino;.  Another  ideal  is  that  it  shall  be  full  of 
health  for  enjoyment  and  strength  for  accomplish' 
ment.  There  are  plenty  of  directions  whereby 
thine  health  shall  spring  forth  speedily  and  thou 
shalt  be  like  a  watered  garden  whose  waters  fail 
not ;  thou  shalt  bring  forth  fruit  in  old  age,  thou 
shalt  be  fat  and  flourishing.  "  Wait  on  the  Lord 
and  renew  your  strength,  mount  up  on  wings  as 
eagles,  run  and  not  be  weary,  walk  and  not  faint." 
The  Eible  is  the  athlete's  own  text  book.  By  a 
hundred  statements  and  figures  he  is  told  to  be 
strong,  to  quit  himself  like  a  man  ;  told  how  his 
bow  may  abide  in  strength ;  how  Samson  became 
strong,  and  how  in  the  lap  of  Delilah  he  became 
weak ;  it  tells  how  David  mastered  the  fierceness 


54  The  Bible: 

of  wild  beasts  and  of  wilder  men ;  liow  Daiii6l 
found  out  that  the  people  that  do  "  know  their 
God  shall  be  strong  and  do  exploits." 

Another  ideal  for  men  is  that  they  be  wise.  No 
book  so  rings  with  exhortations  to  get  wisdom,  to 
have  understanding,  to  cease  to  be  fools  and  chil- 
dren in  understanding.  It  tells  where  wisdom  is 
to  be  found,  and  puts  a  value  upon  it  that  no  eager 
pnpil  burning  the  midnight  oil  appreciates.  "  Wis- 
dom is  the  principal  thing  ;  therefore  get  wisdom, 
and  with  all  thy  gettings  get  understanding." 
"  It  cannot  be  gotten  for  gold,  neither  shall  silver 
be  weighed  for  the  j^rice  thereof.  It  cannot  be 
valued  with  the  gold  of  Ophir,  with  the  precious 
onyx,  nor  the  sapphire.  The  gold  and  the  crystal 
cannot  equal  it,  and  the  exchange  of  it  shall  not 
be  for  jewels  of  fine  gold.  No  mention  shall  be 
made  of  coral  or  of  pearls,  for  the  price  of  wisdom 
is  above  i-ubies.  The  topaz  of  Ethiopia  shall  not 
equal  it,  neither  shall  it  be  valued  by  means  of  fine 
gold."  Then  it  tells  us  where  this  priceless  thing 
may  be  found,  and  gives  us  the  alphabet  whereby 
we  may  spell  out  all  the  volumes  of  wisdom  there 
are  in  the  earth  and  sky.  Of  course,  the  getting 
of  such  priceless  treasure  is  no  easy  task,  and  the 
getting  of  it  is  not  the  best  result  of  the  seeking. 
Our  own  matured  powers,  our   greatness  of  soul. 


Its  Ideals.  55 

the  masterfulness  of  that  intellectual  dominion  we 
were  made  for,  is  better  than  any  facts.  We  can 
buy  them  in  cyclopedias,  but  strength  and  great- 
ness of  soul  like  our  Father  can  only  be  developed 
by  toil. 

Therefore,  ye  hard-working  students,  you  will 
appreciate  the  words  of  y^ur  Father,  "  My  son, 
incline  thine  ear  unto  wisdom,  and  apply  thine 
heart  to  understanding.  Yea,  if  thou  criest  after 
knowledge,  and  liftest  up  thy  voice  for  understand- 
ing ;  if  thou  seekest  her  as  silver,  and  searchest 
for  her  as  for  hid  treasures ;  then  shalt  thou  under- 
stand righteousness,  and  judgment,  and  equity,  and 
every  good  path."  O  prospector  in  the  eternal 
solitude  of  these  everlasting  hills,  hungry,  weary, 
alone,  in  hardest  possible  work,  scorched  in  sum- 
mer, cold  in  winter ;  O  miners  in  the  dark  bowels 
of  the  earth ;  0  assay er  hunting  with  stamps,  fires, 
lixiviations,  chemicals,  and  intent  soul  for  silver 
and  hid  treasure,  you  are  the  types  of  the  earnest- 
ness, diligence,  persistence,  and  ingenuity  of  the 
student  for  hidden  wisdom  and  possible  growth. 

The  Bible  next  gives  ideals  of  various  braveries 
and  adherence  to  principles.  The  soul  has  obtained 
visions  of  greater  value  than  ease  and  comfort. 
There  are  things  worth  more  than  life.  There  are 
pleasures  that  should  be   scorned,  profits  that  are 


66  The  Bible: 

terrible  losses,  gains  tliat  are  ruinous,  and  victories 
that  are  deaths.  Hence  a  man  can  be  brave,  for 
the  body  is  not  needful  for  him,  but  a  good  con- 
science is.  There  are  fidelities  to  honor  that  no 
pleasure  can  swerve.  Joseph  prefers  false  accusa- 
tion and  a  prison  to  the  delights  of  his  mistress's 
bed.  Moses  prefers  the  reproaches  of  Christ  to 
the  pleasure  of  a  king  in  Egypt.  David  is  to  be 
told  that  he  has  shamed  his  kingly  honor  and  made 
himself  unfit  to  rule  because  he  gave  way  to  pas- 
sion. Not  until  he  had  filled  the  world  with  the 
most  plaintive  strains  of  penitence  ever  heard  could 
he  find  peace.  "What  shall  I  say  more,  for  time 
would  fail  me  to  tell  of  men  who  through  faith 
subdued  kingdoms,  wrouglit  righteousness,  ob- 
tained promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions, 
quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of 
the  sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made  strong, 
waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies 
of  aliens."  Out  of  this  little  line  of  men  who  have 
had  and  partially  accepted  the  ideals  of  man- 
hood in  the  Bible  has  been  culled  a  longer  and 
more  sublime  line  of  heroes  than  can  be  found  in 
all  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  few  surpass  the 
many.  We  are  not  ignorant  of  Hegulus.  We 
Would  have  been  glad  to  stand  on  either  hand  of 
Horatius  and  keep  the  bridge;  we  would  have — 


Its  Ideals.  57 

but  are  there  more  of  the  world's  heroes  who  have 
not  known  the  Scripture  ideal  ?  Ah,  the  roll-call 
of  heroes  among  the  few  that  had  the  ideals  of 
God  is  longer  than  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the  world. 
Its  heroism  surpasses  in  brave  deeds  and  fidelity  to 
lofty  principle  even  the  tliouglits  of  other  men. 

I  have  thus  far  touched  only  on  Old  Testament 
ideals  and  their  results  in  individual  heroes.  The 
New  far  surpasses  them  in  loftiness  and  results.  It 
surpasses  all  the  rewards  of  the  present  life  to  na- 
tions and  individuals,  and  reveals  an  eternal  life. 
It  values  man  so  highly  that  to  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  one's  own  soul  is  utterest  poverty. 
The  Old  Testament  had  its  ideals  in  words,  the  New 
in  the  perfect  and  ideal  Man.  He  revealed  what 
man  could  do  and  be  as  words  never  could.  Who 
before  ever  bore  a  whole  city's  sickness  and  carried 
its  sorrows?  Who  before  ever  had  such  inner 
glory  that  it  transfigured  flesh  and  raiment  ?  Who 
before  ever  was  so  one  with  the  Father  that  he 
always  did  the  things  that  pleased  him,  and  heard 
the  response,  "  Thou  art  my  beloved  son.  In  thee 
am  I  well  pleased  ? "  Who  before  ever  loved  men 
to  his  uttermost  ?  O,  Damon  and  Phintias,  greater 
love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  he  lay  down  his 
life  for  his  friends  ;  but  the  perfect  Ideal  Humanity 
in  the  Bible  carries  love  away  beyond,  till  he  lays 


68  The  Bible; 

down  Ills  life  for  his  enemies  and  murderers.  That 
transfiguration  was  not  abnormal,  startling,  and 
singular,  but  was  meant  to  express  what  was  nor- 
mal and  possible  to  humanity  at  its  best.  It  w^as 
anticipated  in  the  shining  face  of  Moses.  It 
has  been  repeated  in  Stephen,  whose  face  was  like 
an  angel's,  and,  more  slowly  to  be  sure,  in  thou- 
sands of  faces  since.  It  is  in  the  range  and  reach 
of  our  humanity  at  its  best.  So  the  New  Testa- 
ment, heroes  utterly  surpass  those  of  the  Old,  grand 
as  they  are.  In  their  hearts  ever  rang  the  exhor- 
tation, "  Rejoice,  rejoice  evermore,  take  joyfully 
the  spoiling  of  your  goods,  knowing  tliat  ye  have 
a  better  inheritance.  Blessed  are  they  w^hich  are 
persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake :  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  Those  things  which  were 
gain  to  me — learning,  wealth,  social  position — I 
counted  loss  for  Christ.  Yea,  doubtless,  and  1 
count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord.  For  whom 
I  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things,  and  do  count 
them  but  dung  that  I  may  win  Christ."  Other 
systems  of  ideals  may  make  men  brave  and  stoical, 
but  none  other  can  make  men  shout  for  joy  in  the 
midst  of  losses  and  sufferings.  There  is  a  j^ower 
that  sees  them  transmuted  to  eternal  gains. 

The  Bible  demands  a  breadth  of  soul  that  is  de 


Its  Ideals.  59 

liglitfiil  to  contemplate.  It  is  to  be  open  and  sym- 
pathetic to  all  the  universe.  No  pent  up  Utica  con- 
tracts its  powers.  It  is  to  be  at  home  in  this  world, 
or  any  other,  or  no  other.  It  is  to  have  such  pen- 
etrative insight  that  it  can  see  God  when  other 
men  can  see  nothing,  hear  him  Avhen  other  men 
say  it  thunders.  The  soul  is  to  have  a  revelation 
in  every  spire  of  grass  and  every  star  in  the  sky. 
The  world  loves  Wordsworth  because  he  saw  much 
in  nature  and  revealed  it  to  men  partially  blind, 
men  to  whom 

**  A  primrose  by  the  river's  brim 
A  yellow  primrose  was  to  him, 
And  it  was  nothing  more." 

Wordsworth  felt  and  made  others  feel  that  "  the 
meanest  flower  that  blows  brings  thoughts  that  lie 
too  deep  for  tears."  But  the  Bible  was  full  of  it 
before  Wordsworth  lived  or  saw  it.  It  was  in  the 
older  Bible  of  stars  and  flowers  before  the  written 
one  said,  "  In  the  beginning  God."  God  took 
Abraham  out  under  the  innumerable  stars  of  the 
clear  Eastern  sky,  and  said,  "  Look  now  toward 
heaven  and  tell  the  stars  if  thou  be  able  to  number 
them.  So  shall  thy  seed  be."  Thus  the  heavens 
became  dear  to  Abraham  and  to  all  his  seed  after 
him  as  a  prophetic  family  record.  ISTo  w^onder  Da- 
vid said  to  the  chief  ninsician,  to  be  resounded  in 


60  The  Bible: 

perpetual  temple  service,  "  The  heavens  declare 
the  glory  of  God ;  and  the  firmament  showeth  his 
liandiworlv.  Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and 
night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge."  They  were 
the  shining  pages  of  future  family  records.  The 
ideal  Man  but  followed  in  the  same  line  when  he 
said,  "  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,"  the  spar- 
row almost  without  value,  the  grass  clothed  in 
frailty,  all  are  objects  of  your  Father's  care.  The 
Bible  sees  Jehovah  in  the  creation  and  the  continu- 
ance of  the  world,  and  makes  the  whole  universe 
alive  with  an.  immanent  God.  This  breadth  and 
tenderness  and  insight  belongs  to  those  who  adopt 
it.  Our  best  literature  is  full  of  this  insight  into 
nature.  Tennyson,  Cowper,  Matthew  Arnold,  and 
others  are  loved  because  they  see  it.  By  their 
writings  nature  flows  in  its  eternal  cahn  and  life 
into  our  souls.  But  none  of  these  poets  surpass 
the  older  poets  of  the  Bible  in  insight  and  appre- 
ciation of  nature  for  loftiest  ends. 

Not  only  does  God  broaden  men  by  nature,  but 
by  men.  He  alone  establishes  a  true  basis  of  sym- 
pathy among  them.  The  mother  is  quadrupled  by 
her  involvement  in  her  children.  The  man  and 
woman  married  are  not  two,  but  an  ideal  unit  with 
more  or  less  ciphers  standing  behind  them.  It  is  a 
new  enlargement  of  arithmetic  that  one  plus  one 


Its  Ideals.  61 

are  not  two,  but  ten  or  a  hundred.  Some  men 
are  large  enougli  to  love  a  nation.  Tliere  was  One 
large  enough  to  love  a  world  and  die  for  it.  And 
if  we  could  beconie  sympathetic  with  all  the  world 
as  Jesns  -iid,  then  we  should  reach  tow^ard  his  in- 
finity. There  is  no  breadth  of  soul  comparable 
with  what  the  Bible  enjoins  and  makes  practicable. 
Men  have  always  had  an  ambition  to  be  free. 
They  prefer  the  wilds  of  the  Barcan  desert  or  the 
sewers  of  Paris  to  slavery.  They  stand  among  the 
Alps  and  cry : 

' '  Ye  crags  and  peaks,  I'm  with  you  once  again ; 
I  hold  to  you  the  hands  you  first  beheld 
To  show  they  still  are  free." 

But  where  is  the  basis  of  freedom  ?  Kings  and 
constitutions  have  held  that  the  natural  state  of 
most  men  was  that  of  slavery.  It  was  only  after  six 
thousand  years  that  a  declaration  of  independence 
could  say  that  all  men  were  created  free  and  equal. 
And  that  was  so  great  an  advance  that  the  consti- 
tution could  not  follow  with  equal  step  after  that 
independence  was  achieved ;  and  for  nearly  a 
century  after  that  declaration  was  held  to  be  a  glit- 
tering generality. 

In  the  earliest  association  of  men  in  govern- 
ments the  only  ground  was  that  of  blood.  A 
father  and  his  growing  progeny  took  their  flocks 


62  The  Bible: 

and  wandered  away.  If  they  needed  servants 
they  took  them  from  tlwse  who  were  not  strong 
enough  to  protect  themselves.  Hence  the  great 
desire  in  early  times  for  a  numerous  progeny.  It 
meant  power.  Sometimes  they  secured  numbers 
by  the  legal  fiction  of  having  children  by  adoption. 
Savage  tribes  now  have  a  way  of  adopting  stran- 
gers into  their  society  by  drawing  their  blood  and 
mingling  it  in  so-called  relationship.  So  Stanley 
was  received  into  some  African  tribes.  But  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  such  a  nomadic  tribe  of  blood  re- 
lations, intermarrying  among  themselves  to  their 
rapid  deterioration,  and  cumbered  with  a  great 
body  of  slaves,  could  not  evolve  a  great  nation.  A 
great  nation  must  be,  like  heaven,  large  enough  to 
take  every  kindred  and  tribe  and  tongue  under  the 
whole  heaven.  Therein  is  virility  of  body  and 
power  of  mind.  Therein  was  breadth  and  exten- 
sion by  a  union,  not  of  a  hundred,  but  of  a  hun- 
dred millions.  The  Bible  solved  the  diflSculty. 
Every  man  was  God-made.  They  were  of  one 
blood.  Each  one  had  God's  breath  for  his  soul, 
was  equally  cared  for  by  his  Maker.  His  rights 
were  provided  for  in  the  Sinai  enactment ;  his 
freedom  secured  on  the  year  of  Jubilee  at  least. 
The  blood  of  a  hated  and  far-off  Gentile  could  be 
made  to  flow  in  the  veins  of  the  chosen  people.  In 


Its  Ideals.  63 

real  truth  the  beautiful  and  faithful  Moabitess 
Ruth  was  a  mother  of  David  and  Jesus.  Thus  by 
blood  relationship  a  nation  of  any  magnitude  could 
be  gathered,  and  by  inheritance  all  the  rights  of 
freemen  secured.  And  far  more  than  political 
freedom  was  secured.  Emancipation  from  super- 
stition and  sin  was  provided.  Whosoever  sins  is  the 
servant  of  sin,  but  the  truth  shall  make  you  free. 
And  whosoever  the  truth  maketh  free  is  free  in- 
deed. Whatever  slave  accepted  God's  invitation 
was  called  the  Lord's  freeman.  There  was  such 
freedom  of  soul  that  men  cared  little  for  the  slav- 
ery of  the  body.  Beyond  question  New  England 
has  done  more  for  human  freedom  than  any  other 
part  of  the  world.  It  is  because  there  the  Bible 
has  been  more  attentively  studied  and  its  emanci- 
pating influence  felt. 

The  idea  of  the  future  life  has  been  low  and  un- 
certain among  men.  The  old  Greeks  felt  that  the 
life  of  the  meanest  slave,  abused  and  deprived  of 
every  comfort  here,  was  much  to  be  preferred  to 
the  life  of  the  greatest  hero  in  the  world  to  come. 
It  was  darkness  and  gloom,  intangibility,  nothing 
to  do,  everything  to  suffer,  in  the  under  world  of 
shades.  Over  every  tomb  might  be  written  :  *'  All 
hope  abandon  ye  wdio  enter  here.''  And  so  it 
might  be  written  on  every  heart  who  entered  the 


64  The  Bible: 

gate  of  mourning,  Korthnien  looked  for  a  life  of 
war  and  wassail,  drinking  the  blood  of  enemies  out 
of  ghastly  skulls.  Mohammedans  looked  for  a  life 
of  pleasure  without  any  ennobling  trait.  But  the 
ideal  of  the  Bible,  what  is  it  ?  In  Enoch  and 
Elijah  men  vault  over  death  and  the  grave,  un- 
touched by  his  dart.  Men  are  gathered  to 
Abraham's  bosom  ;  they  come  back  from  the  dead. 
David  says  of  his  child :  "  He  will  not  return  to  me, 
but  1  shall  go  to  him."  In  God's  presence  is 
fullness  of  life.  It  springs  up  in  trees,  it  gushes 
and  pours  in  rivers,  and  there  are  pleasures  for  ever- 
more. They  that  have  clean  hands  and  pure 
hearts  are  gathered  together.  The  spirits  of  just 
men  are  made  perfect.  There  is  no  night  nor 
sorrow  nor  crying.  The  whole  drift  of  magnifi- 
cent events  and  visions  is  such  as  tends  to  enlarge 
and  perfect  the  most  ambitious  souls.  This  infinite 
God,  who  mapped  out  such  a  magnificent  dominion 
at  the  first,  and  who  has  worked  through  so  many 
ages  to  develop  souls  fit  for  their  origin  and  destiny, 
now  stands  ready  to  do  for  them  exceeding- 
abundantly  above  all  that  we  can  ask  or  even  think. 
Ko  wonder  that  the  wail  of  the  dolorous  and  ac- 
cursed ages  turns  to  hallelujahs  ;  that  the  harpers 
are  harping  with  their  harps,  while  the  years  of 
eternity  roll. 


Its  Ideals.  65 

These  are  the  ideals  for  individuals.  Has  it 
ideals  for  the  masses  ?  Can  the  Bible  cope  with 
the  great  interests  of  nations  and  deal  with  men  by 
the  millions  ?  It  attempts  it.  How  does  it  suc- 
ceed ?  First  of  all,  we  will  remember  that  masses 
are  but  individuals  aggregated.  If  gravitation  can 
handle  all  the  separate  particles  it  can  swing 
Jupiter.  If  there  are  means  of  developing  indi- 
viduals to  perfect  ideals  the  masses  will  be  perfect. 
But  the  Bible  is  not  content  to  thus  deal  with 
nations.  There  are  and  will  be  nations  before  in- 
dividuals are  perfected.  What  is  prepared  for 
them?  Take  the  smallest  association  of  individuals 
possible,  the  family — this  is  God's  unit  of  society. 
This  association  and  aggregate  becomes  a  new  unit. 
The  man  and  wife  supplement  each  other  and  be- 
come one  flesh.  Their  law  is :  "  Bear  ye  one 
another's  burdens."  "  Husbands  love  your  wives 
even  as  Christ  also  loved  the  Church  and  gave  him- 
self for  it,  that  he  might  sanctify  it,  and  present  to 
himself  a  glorious  bride,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle 
or  any  such  thing,  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and 
without  blemish."  So  ought  men  to  love  their 
wives  as  their  own  body.  The  most  that  everlast- 
ing love  and  tireless  service  can  do  for  the  wife  is 
done  for  this  spotless  and  holy  bride.  Husband 
and  wife  become  a  kind  of  God  to  each  other. 


66  The  Bible: 

"  He  that  is  unmarried  careth  how  he  may  please 
the  Lord,  but  he  that  is  married  careth  how  he 
may  please  his  wife."  And  yet  the  Jealous  God 
devises  and  enjoins  marriage.  He  instituted  it  in 
Eden,  and  honored  it  with  his  presence  and  the  first 
miracle  he  wrought  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  made 
it  a  type  of  that  mystical  union  between  himself 
and  his  Church,  which  he  has  called  the  bride  of 
the  Lamb.  Take  the  Bible  ideals  of  marriage,  and 
in  the  infinite  tenderness,  love,  and  expansion  of 
each  nature  the  question,  "  Is  marriage  a  failure  1 " 
would  never  be  raised. 

The  Bible  ideals  on  questions  of  sociology  need 
only  to  be  mentioned  to  commend  themselves. 
The  history  of  the  world  so  far  has  been  only  a 
record  of  the  doings  of  the  higher  classes.  The 
true  history  is  yet  to  be  written  of  the  thoughts, 
feelings,  hopes,  and  sufferings  of  the  lower  classes. 
This  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain 
together  until  now.  The  great  deep  of  their  ex- 
perience is  to  the  joys  of  the  few  rich,  titled,  and 
usurping  rulers  as  the  ocean  is  to  the  mists  of  the 
morning.  They  demand  recognition.  Christ  was 
the  exponent  of  the  true  democracy.  The  om- 
nipotence of  love  swept  over  the  flimsy  barriers  of 
caste  behind  which  men  sought  to  protect  puny 
virtues  that  could  not  bear  contact  with  the  poor. 


Its  Ideals.  67 

The  loftiest  mortal  put  himself  in  touch  with  the 
lowest.  His  was  an  educated  socialism,  a  sanctified 
communism.  His  ideals  actualized  will  abolish  the 
disabilities  of  poverty  and  the  unrighteousness  of 
caste.  In  him  the  brotherhood  of  humanity  was 
actualized  and  the  Fatherhood  of  God  made  ap- 
parent. 

Does  the  Bible  cope  with  the  great  problems  of 
nations?  Is  it  large  enough  for  hundreds  of 
millions  of  men  in  aggregation?  Minds  like 
Lycurgus,  Solon,  Cicero,  Yatel,  Grotius,  Black- 
stone,  and  Jefferson  have  not  been  sufficient  to 
found  and  guide  such  great  affairs.  But  the  God  of 
the  Bible  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to 
dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth  and  hath  determined 
the  times  before  appointed  and  the  bounds  of  their 
habitation.  He  lifteth  up  one  nation  and  casteth 
down  another ;  whole  nations  before  him  are  as  a 
drop  in  the  bucket,  and  counted  as  the  small  dust 
of  the  balance.  He  bringeth  the  princes  to  noth- 
ing, and  maketh  the  judges  of  the  earth  as  vanity. 

The  Bible  gives  the  conditions  of  prosperity  and 
the  causes  of  adversity.  Righteousness  exalteth  a 
nation,  but  sin  is  a  curse  to  any  people.  The  di- 
vine decree  is  that  that  nation  or  people  that  will 
not  sei've  the  King  of  kings  shall  perish.  And  the 
world  is  a  graveyard  of  nations  from  that  cause. 


68  The  Bible  : 

The  true  worth  and  power  of  a  nation  rs^nsists 
in  the  worth  and  power  of  its  individuals.  One 
David  not  only  overmatches  one  Goliath,  but  the 
whole  army  of  the  Pliihstines.  Besides,  one  shall 
chase  a  thousand  and  two  put  ten  thousand  to 
flight.  That  individuals  may  be  strong  they  must 
have  their  rights,  be  happy,  nnd  free  from  oppres- 
sion. 

But  there  are  broader  reUtions  between  one  na- 
tion and  another.  Can  these  far-reaching  interests 
be  comprehended  ?  When  Israel  was  at  its  widest 
reach  and  greatest  prosperity  God  made  their  ene- 
mies to  be  at  peace  with  them.  Under  pagan  na- 
tions there  is  no  possible  basis  for  international 
law.  Each  one  is  a  selfish  nation.  There  are  no 
interests  larger  than  themselves.  Every  outside 
nation  is  a  menace  to  that  selfish  interest ;  let  it  be 
conquered  and  plundered.  But  under  Christian 
ideas  interests  grow  larger  than  any  one  nation. 
The  trade  between  England  and  America  brings 
more  wealth  to  each  than  if  we  could  plunder  the 
Bank  of  England  and  they  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States.  "We  are  under  bonds  of  interest  to 
keep  the  peace.  Grotius,  the  founder  of  inter- 
national law,  was  a  most  diligent  student  of  the 
Bible.  And  among  commentators  he  was  one  of  the 
best.  It  was  on  tlie  principles  of  the  word  of  God 


Its  Ideals.  69 

that  lie  laid  the  foundations  of  law  among  nations. 
His  way  of  spreading  this  new  science  was  peculiar. 
He  wrote  it  in  poetry  and  ballads  for  the  Dutch 
sailors  then  going  about  the  world,  so  that  it  could 
be  remembered  and  rehearsed. 

The  great  questions  between  nations  liave  often 
been  referred  to  the  stern  arbitrament  of  arms. 
It  is  the  last  appeal.  Stnndiiig  amid  the  awful 
desolation  of  bappy  village-,  amid  corpses  by  the 
thousands,  burned  homes  and  ravaged  women,  men 
have  asked  if  there  could  not  be  some  other  way. 
But  as  the  centuries  go  by,  and  desolations  go  on, 
the  true  ideal  is  quietly  awaiting  acceptance  in  the 
Bible.  There  we  are  told  that  when  the  people 
shall  say,  ''  Come  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to  the 
mountain  of  the  Lord,  to  the  house  of  the  God 
of  Jacob  ;  and  he  will  teach  us  of  his  ways,  and 
^e  will  walk  in  his  paths :  for  out  of  Zion  shall 
go  forth  the  law,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from 
Jerusalem.  And  he  shall  judge  among  the  nations, 
and  shall  rebuke  many  people :  and  they  shall  beat 
their  swords  into  plowshares,  and  their  spears  into 
pruning-hooks :  nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword 
against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any 
more." 

And  when  time  shall  be  no  longer,  and  all  na- 
tions shall  be  gathered  before  him,  and  he  has  se- 


70  The  Bible: 

lected  the  good  out  of  every  kindred  and  tribe 
and  nation  and  tongue  under  the  whole  heaven, 
then  there  shall  be  a  vast  and  luminous  city.  The 
nations  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  it,  and  the  kings 
of  the  earth  shall  bring  their  glory  and  honor  into 
it.  From  it  shall  be  barred  every  evil  and  pain. 
Into  it  shall  be  called  every  good  man  and  every 
spirit  of  just  men  to  be  made  perfect  by  processes  we 
cannot  now  declare.  And  they  shall  go  no  more 
out  forever.  Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  com- 
mandments, that  live  by  God's  ideals,  for  they  shall 
have  a  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  they  may  enter 
in,  through  the  gates,  into  the  city. 

Every  true  investigator  will  ask.  Whence  come 
such  incomparable  ideals  ?  "What  genius  for  know- 
ing God,  knowing  man  at  more  than  his  visible 
best,  knowing  the  yet  unveiled  future  struck  out 
these  sublime  ideals,  unthinkable  by  all  other 
men  ?  Why  should  Moses  in  the  dawning  of  gov- 
ernment give  us  principles  that  we  eagerly  incor- 
porate into  the  American  Constitution,  the  great- 
est birth  of  latest  time  ?  Why  should  David  sing 
songs  three  thousand  years  ago  that  are  more  popu- 
lar than  Tennyson  or  Lowell  can  write  to-day,  and 
with  more  penetrative  insight  into  human  needs 
and  the  means  of  their  supply  than  the  poet  of 
human  nature  ever  had  ? 


Its  Ideals.  71 

Did  these  ideals  originate  with  this  rude  and 
unscientific  people  ?  If  so,  all  hope  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  human  race  is  a  baseless  fabric  of  an 
unsubstantial  dream.  But  no  man  thinks  it.  If 
he  did  he  would  necessarily  become  a  Jew  at  once. 
It  would  violate  every  phase  of  the  law  of  natural 
selection.  The  people  naturally  selected  idols.  Ash- 
toreth,  the  goddess  of  the  Zidonians,  and  Milcom, 
the  abomination  of  the  Ammonites  !  They  defiled 
themselves  under  every  green  tree,  and  went  a 
whoring  after  unnamable  iniquities.  Their  natural 
selection  was  like  the  perishing  tribes  and  nations 
about  them.  They  could  not  be  spurred  up  to 
righteousness  by  all  the  pricks  of  judgment  and 
punishment.  Throw  natural  selections  and  natU' 
ral  law  to  the  winds  in  making  your  conclusions. 

There  was  a  supernatural  selection  and  selector. 
There  must  have  been  an  infinite  thinker.  He 
claims  to  have  projected  from  a  higher  sphere 
these  lofty  ideals  into  a  lower. 

The  Jews  do  not  claim  to  have  originated  them. 
There  is  no  pretense  that  they  elaborated  them  in 
their  long  history.  If  there  were  such  pretense  it 
would  be  easy  to  refute  it.  They  did  not  adopt 
them  nor  live  by  them  except  partially  and  spasmod- 
ically. They  were  nearly  always  in  rebellion 
against  these  principles.     They  wanted  to  go  back 


72  The  Bible. 

to  the  conquered  gods  of  Egypt.  They  longoa 
more  for  fleshpots  than  for  ideals.  The  salt  air  of 
the  de^^ths  of  the  sea  was  hardly  out  of  their  lungs 
before  they  murmured  against  God  at  Marah.  Yea, 
worse,  they  provoked  God  even  at  the  Red  Sea. 
They  went  into  idolatry  and  expatriation  as  a  nat- 
ural consequence.  Much  of  the  time  they  did  not 
even  know  that  these  ideals  were  in  their  sacred 
books.  When  they  did  know  it  there  was  little 
appreciation  and  less  love  of  them.  ]^o,  they 
were  always  urged  forward  by  some  power  other 
than  themselves.  Some  one  always  set  up  the 
standard  far  in  the  front,  and  still  carried  it  for- 
ward when  they  were  in  hopeless  and  disordered 
route.  Whence  came  they?  There  is  but  one 
answer,  and  that  is  found  among  the  ideals  them- 
selves :  "  All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of 
God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof, 
for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness : 
that  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect."  Perfect, 
that  the  man  of  God  may  \)q  perfect. 


III. 

THE    BIBLE  :    ITS   HIGHEST 
IDEAL  REALIZED. 


SYLLABUS. 


III.  THE  BIBLE:  Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized. 

The  Ideal:  Be  Ye  there/ore  Perfect. 

Why  "  therefore  ?  "     Because  your  Father  is,     Hereditj'  helps.     Since 
we  are  men,  perfection  must  have  all  traits  of  best  manliness : 
(a)  Courage  ;  not  for  self  merely,  for  others. 
ih)  Conscience  must  be  a  supreme  king. 
(c)  Exaltation  of  love  from  passion  to  worship. 

The  Ideal  Man  was  a  Worker  :  Not  •with  Material  Forces  merely  Making 
Machinery  ;  with  Spiritual  Forces  Making  Men. 
Bible  manhood  means  world-overturners. 

Did  Christ  Cross  the  Line  between  God  and  Man  frotn  Above  or  fretn 
Below  f 

No  one  ever  convinced  Him  of  sin  or  mistake.  His  pet  phrase,  *'  The 
Kingdom  of  God."  Brought  it  "  within  "  men.  His  opinions  of  Prov- 
idence, foreknowledge,  sin,  etc.  First  of  all  thinkers,  His  plans  em- 
braced all  men. 

He  alone  Sought  Empire  over  Men^  not  by  the  Sword^  but  by  the  Cross, 
Meekness,  not  force,  is  to  inherit  the  earth.     His  remedy  for  men  was 
not  new  circumstances,  but  a  new  nature.     He  repelled  the  rich  young 
man  and  the  wise  ruler  unless  they  accepted  this. 

Has  He  Succeeded  ?  For  Himself  Yes.  His  Ideal  Goodness  was  Effortless. 
And  He  gives  to  all  others  who  believe  on  Him  power  to  become  Sons  of 
God,  and  brothers  of  Him. 


III. 

THE  BIBLE:  ITS  HIGHEST  IDEAL  REALIZED. 

THE  lofty  ideals  of  the  Scripture  trooped  by 
us  like  a  vision  of  angels.  The  songs  they 
sang  were  above  earthly  exquisiteness,  the  words 
were  beyond  human  thought,  and  the  glory  so 
great  that  all  men  veiled  their  faces.  When  they 
were  gone  there  was  a  dying  cadence  in  which  we 
heard  the  words,  "  Perfect,  perfect,  be  ye  therefore 
perfect."  And  though  a  great  longing  filled  the 
soul  the  possibility  and  means  of  that  perfection 
seemed  as  distant  as  the  stars.  Shall  we  be 
tantalized  with  words  and  ideals,  and  forever  be 
denied  their  realization  ? 

1^0,  indeed.  There  has  been  lived  among  us  a 
perfect  life.  The  loftiest  ideal  has  been  actual- 
ized before  us.  Almost  the  first  word  the  per- 
fect Man  said  when  entering  upon  his  ministry 
was  this :  "  It  is  necessary  for  us  to  fulfill  all 
righteousness."  Let  us  see  how  it  was  done  and 
in  what  it  consists. 

We  will  all  not  only  concede  but  assert  that  any 


76  The  Bible: 

perfection  worthy  of  the  name  must  have  all  the 
traits  of  what  we  call  manliness.  We  are  not 
angels,  nor  do  we  wish  to  be ;  but  we  are  men  and 
want  to  be  the  best  kind.  There  must  be  in  every 
manly  man  what  we  call  courage.  It  is  one  of  those 
basal  qualities  that  we  share  with  such  animals  as 
the  bulldog.  It  is  a  bold  fronting  of  all  things  in 
the  universe,  feeling  that  we  are  born  masters  and 
can  look  every  created  thing  in  the  face  and  stand 
uncowed.  "When  the  great  Nelson  was  only  four- 
teen years  of  age  he  attacked  a  polar  bear  with 
nothing  but  a  handspike.  To  his  captain  reproving 
him  for  it  afterward  he  said,  "  I  know  not  Mr. 
Fear." 

If  there  ever  was  a  life  of  perfect  courage  it 
was  that  of  Christ.  At  twelve  years  of  age  he  had 
the  mental  courage  to  face  all  the  doctors  of  the 
law  in  the  temple.  Entering  upon  his  ministry  at 
Nazareth  he  declared  such  unwelcome  truth  to  his 
old  playmates  that  they  tried  to  murder  him.  But 
he  went  to  Capernaum  undaunted,  and  continued 
his  ministry.  You  remember  his  going  into  the 
temple  and  quietly  braiding  his  lashes  of  small 
cords  which  he  soon  laid  on  the  stinging  shoulders 
of  the  traders  in  the  temple,  saying  to  the  shriek- 
ing merchants,  "  Take  these  things  hence.  My 
house  is  a  house  of  prayer,  and  ye  have  made  it  a 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized.  77 

den  of  thieves."  He  was  only  a  poor  peasant  from 
a  despised  province,  without  any  following,  single 
handed  and  alone.  He  hesitates  not  to  attack  any 
doctrine  however  popular,  any  authorities  however 
powerful ;  he  never  bends  to  the  lofty,  nor  looks 
askance  at  the  most  humble. 

Again  and  again  those  fierce  Jews  stooped  for 
the  ready  stones  and  took  tliem  up  to  stone  him. 
But  never  by  a  syllable  or  a  tone  did  lie  abate  the 
truth.  Jesus  lived  constantly  in  sight  of  death,  of 
that  most  dreadful  death  on  the  cross.  He  fore- 
told it  again  and  again.  He  went  up  to  Jerusa- 
lem to  meet  it  with  such  courage  that  he  went 
before  his  disciples,  and  they  were  astonished  at 
his  bearing.  At  his  trial  he  might  have  been  ac- 
quitted by  speaking  a  word.  Twelve  legions  of 
angels  were  within  a  finger  beck,  but  he  never 
glanced  at  them.  Of  all  men  who  face  danger  and 
death  unblenchingly  the  man  called  Jesus  marches 
at  the  head. 

We  will  all  agree  that  there  may  be  courage 
without  manliness.  It  may  be  brute  courage ;  it 
may  be  courage  for  rapine  and  war ;  it  may  in- 
famously plunder  and  wrong  the  innocent,  help 
the  guilty,  and  outrageously  seek  selfish  ends;  it 
may  maul  a  fellow-boxer  into  pulp  for  gate-money. 
True  manliness  must  save  its  courage  for  the  good 


78  The  Bible: 

of  others.  Men  can  dare  for  gain,  face  the  immi- 
nent deadly  breach  for  glory,  but  to  be  brave  for 
loss  of  self  and  gain  of  others  implies  a  sublimity 
of  manhood.  Who  would  sing  the  bravery  of 
Horatius  if  he  kept  the  bridge  leading  to  his  own 
possessions  ?  That  he  kept  it  for  the  wives  and 
little  ones  of  strangers  is  his  glory.  Our  hearts 
almost  break  as  he  commits  a  Koman's  arms  and 
life  to  Father  Tiber,  and  we  are  breathless  till  he 
emerges  from  the  swollen  stream.  But  beyond  all 
men  Christ  gave  himself  for  others.  He  was  rich, 
but  for  our  sake  he  became  poor,  that  we  through 
his  poverty  might  be  rich.  He  had  abundant  life 
of  the  best  kind,  but  he  laid  it  all  down,  and  took 
up  insult  and  smiting,  and  plucking  out  the  beard, 
and  being  spit  upon,  and  even  death  that  he  might 
Bave  other  men.  There  have  been  other  flowers  of 
chivalry,  but  here  was  the  fairest.  There  have 
been  men  fit  to  cover  their  casques  with  white 
plumes,  but  here  is  one  that  must  be  covered  with 
an  aureole  of  radiant  glory  forever. 

"What  was  required  of  the  true  knight  ?  "At 
the  moment  of  investure  he  was  required  to  give 
up  all  thought  of  himself,  to  renounce  the  pursuit 
of  material  gain,  to  do  nobly  for  the  mere  love  of 
nobleness;  to  be  generous  of  his  goods;  to  be 
courteous  to  the  vanquished ;  to  redress  wrongs ;  to 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Healized.  79 

draw  his  sword  in  no  quarrel  but  a  just  one ;  to 
keep  Ms  word ;  to  respect  oaths,  and,  above  all 
things,  to  protect  and  serve  helpless  women."  All 
this  lofty  and  knightly  work  he  swore  to  do.  The 
history  of  knighthood  shows  a  few  pure,  lofty 
souls  who  were  not  charged  with  violating  their 
oaths.  But  this  unequaled  knight  did  this  and 
more  without  an  oath.  He  simply  acted  out  his 
nature.  0,  what  an  exchange  of  wealth  for  pov- 
erty !  "What  a  service  of  others  at  the  sacrifice  of 
himself !  And  what  delicate  and  sublime  service 
of  helpless  women ! 

True  manhood  must  not  act  from  mere  caprice 
or  fancy,  but  from  a  sense  of  duty.  Ought  is  the 
most  stupendous  word  in  the  universe.  There 
must  be  a  universe,  and  its  infinite  relations  must 
be  seen,  and  if  seen  recognized  and  acknowledged. 
It  takes  a  large  man  to  see  large  things,  and  so 
come  to  know  that  he  has  obligations  to  the  sum 
of  all  things.  Sir  "Richard  Lovelace,  going  to  the 
wars,  parts  from  his  precious  bride,  saying ; 

* '  I  could  not  love  thee,  dear,  so  much 
Loved  I  not  honor  more." 

Blessed  is  the  man  who  besides  the  ecstatic  love 
for  his  bride  has  a  love  that  is  higher.  It  is  manly 
indeed  when  one  bravely  holds  to  his  will  in  spite 
of  prison  and  racks  and  martyr  fires,   but  it   is 


80  The  Bible: 

the  highest  manliness  when  he  holds  that  will 
equally  firm  in  service  by  which  he  is  not  to 
profit,  but  another.  Nelson  would  not  have  that 
proud  monument  in  Trafalgar  Square  had  not 
"  duty  "  been  the  watchword  of  him  and  of  every 
other  Englishman.  But  Jesus  utterly  surpassed 
him,  for  everywhere  and  always  he  pleased  God. 
The  highest  encomium  ever  paid  to  any  mortal  is  in 
St.  Paul's,  London,  on  the  tomb  of  General  Gor- 
don, "  Who  at  all  times,  and  everywhere,  gave  his 
strength  to  the  weak,  his  substance  to  the  poor, 
his  sympathy  to  the  suffering,  and  his  heart  to 
God."  But  no  man  will  claim  that  he  equaled 
Him  who  came  not  to  do  his  own  will,  but  the 
will  of  his  Father  and  of  our  Father.  He  went 
about  doing  good  and  healed  those  who  had  need 
of  healing.  He  came  to  the  weary  to  rest  them, 
to  the  desolate  to  comfort  them,  to  the  wronged  to 
right  them.  Listen  to  the  keynote  of  his  life. 
At  the  opening  of  his  ministry,  one  Sabbath  morn- 
ing in  N^azareth,  he  declared  its  purpose :  "  To 
preach  good  tidings  to  the  meek,  to  bind  up  the 
brokenhearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives 
and  the  opening  of  the  prison  door  to  them  that 
are  bound,  to  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  day  of  vengeance  of  our  God.  To 
comfort  all  that  mourn.     To  appoint  unto  them 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized.  81 

that  mourn  in  Zion,  to  give  unto  them  beauty  for 
ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  the  garment  of 
praise  for  the  spirit  of  hxeaviness." 

He  came  into  the  saddest  place  on  earth  at  the 
saddest  time.  Here  was  a  nation  of  tlie  greatest 
privileges,  a  peculiar  people,  a  royal  priesthood, 
the  favored  of  the  Lord.  But  they  had  been  con- 
quered, exiled,  enslaved.  Some  of  them  had  come 
back  from  Babylon  and  rebuilt  the  wasted  and  de- 
stroyed city  only  to  be  conquered  by  the  Romans. 
The  agony  of  being  slaves  abroad  had  the  added  bit- 
terness of  being  slaves  at  home,  in  sight  of  their 
former  glory  and  pride.  They  had  songs  of  tri- 
umph, how  could  they  sing  them  ?  They  had  the 
most  glorious  history  on  record,  how  could  they 
recite  it  ?  They  had  the  most  magnificent  proph- 
ecies, but  they  could  not  see  that  the  dawn  of  their 
fulfillment  would  redden  the  east  in  their  gen- 
eration. It  was  the  saddest  conceivable  time.  Then 
outbroke  this  joyous  message.  May  I  pause  long 
enough  to  impress  our  minds  that  this  message  is 
a  gospel,  good  tidings  ?  Its  word  over  Bethlehem 
was  peace,  good- will  to  men.  The  whole  message 
of  Jesus  was  the  best  word  ever  heard  in  this 
world.  There  is  no  phrase  in  any  human  lan- 
guage so  rich  and  blessed  as  "  God  so  loved  the 

world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
6 


82  The  Bible: 

whosoever  believeth  in  liim  might  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life." 

The  whole  idea  and  nature  of  love  has  been 
ineffably  exalted  bj  his  coming  into  humanity. 
You  have  already  learned  from  your  classic  read- 
ings that  the  erotic  poets  of  Greece  and  Rome 
never  exalted  love  above  a  physical  emotion.  It 
was  something  delicate  and  tender,  but  it  always 
sought  for  the  physical  possession  of  its  object.  It 
never  exalted  its  Aspasia  into  a  deity,  nor  love's 
exercise  into  worship.  But  after  Christ  came  and 
shed  his  experience  into  human  hearts  one  could 
salute  another  with  a  holy  kiss.  Dante  says  his 
love  for  Beatrice  is  a  ''love  that  withdraws  my 
thoughts  from  all  vile  things."  This  greatest, 
sincerest  man  in  modern  Europe  had  a  real  wor- 
ship of  his  lady  as  a  symbol  of  purity  and  holiness. 
This  sublime  elevation  and  power  of  love  was  ow- 
ing to  a  love  that  had  no  personal  ends.  Every 
man  and  every  woman  has  occasion  to  be  devoutly 
thankful  for  the  ineffable  exaltation  of  the  great- 
est power  for  good  or  ill  in  human  nature. 

Men  honor  a  worker.  A  theorist,  a  philosopher 
is  good,  but  lacks  completion  till  some  worker 
tests  the  theory,  embodies  the  ideal.  How  we 
honor  the  engineer  Stephenson,  Fulton,  Morse, 
Howe,   Ericsson,  Edison.      The  workaday  world 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Kealized.  83 

finds  toil  lightened  and  accomplisliment  made  a 
thousand  times  more  easy.  We  will  not  forget 
that  the  most  practical  worker  that  ever  trod  the 
earth  was  Jesus.  He  achieved  results  unparalleled. 
He  said  of  God,  "  My  Father  worketh  up  to  now, 
and  I  work."  The  first  idea  the  Bible  gives  us  is 
of  the  great  "Worker,  who  in  six  periods  made  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  and  who  momently  uphold- 
eth  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power.  Christ 
says  I  came  to  do,  not  to  think  merely.  He  worked 
till  he  was  weary.  I  must  finish  the  work  thou 
gavest  me  to  do.  I  must  work  while  the  day  lasts. 
I  must  work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me.  Go- 
ing out  of  the  world  he  did  not  go  to  idle  ease,  but 
to  more  work.  I  go  to  painstakingly  prepare  a 
place  for  you  ;  and  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for 
you  I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto  my- 
self, that  where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also. 

Other  men  may  work  with  tools,  and  the  result 
is  machinery.  It  mines,  pumps,  drills,  locomotes, 
but  it  is  still  machinery  directing  the  forces  of  the 
world  which  we  call  inert.  But  Christ  worked 
with  spiritual  forces,  and  the  result  is  man.  Ma- 
chinery  is  wonderful,  but  men  utterly  transcend 
it.  Where  is  there  manhood  comparable  with  that 
of  the  Bible  ?  One  chapter  of  its  records  tran- 
scends in  bravery,  purity,  knowledge,  and  power 


84  The  Bible: 

over  nature  all  the  records  of  the  rest  of  the  world. 
His  training  of  twelve  humble,  ordinary,  or  less 
than  ordinary  men  into  world-overturners,  that 
will  obey  God  rather  than  men,  has  no  parallel  in 
the  rest  of  history.  He  makes  a  kind  of  men  so 
great  and  potent  that  they  are  self-perpetuating. 
The  leaven  Christ  put  into  the  world  need  not 
conserve  its  forces;  it  can  be  lavish  of  them. 
It  is  a  self-multiplying  power,  that  the  farther  it 
spreads  the  stronger  it  is.  The  Church  is  far 
stronger  in  America  for  converting  China. 

We  know  that  we  are  like  God.  He  has  do- 
minion. So  have  we.  He  writes  his  thought  in 
stars  and  life.  We  read  it.  John  says  the  new 
commandment  to  love  one  another  is  true  in  God 
and  in  us.  We  are  in  God's  image,  but  we  are  not 
God.  There  is  a  broad  dividing  line — not  a  line, 
but  a  zone.  Somehow  Christ  crossed  that  line. 
Did  he  do  it  from  below,  as  Prometheus  went  up 
to  Olympus  and  brought  down  fire  for  men  ? 
Did  Christ  go  up  and  get  a  few  gifts,  or  did  he 
cross  that  line  from  above,  bringing  down  a  whole 
nature  instead  of  a  few  gifts  ?  Any  study  of  him 
says  he  crossed  it  from  above.  He  brought  down 
a  nature  so  vast  that  no  one  ever  understood  it ;  a 
knowledge  so  penetrating  that  men  were  amazed  at 
his  questions  and  answers  when  he  was  only  twelve 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized.  85 

years  old ;  so  broad  that  wily  men,  skilled  in 
casuistry,  laying  traps  to  catch  him  in  his  words, 
and  framing  horns  of  dilemma  to  toss  him,  were 
always  caught  and  tossed  themselves,  till  at  length  it 
was  said,  "  After  that  durst  no  man  any  more  ask 
him  any  questions."  It  has  been  the  frolicsome 
delight  of  mere  dialecticians  for  two  thousand 
years  to  read  how  the  Man  of  Galilee  used  up  the 
proud  old  quizzing  Pharisees  and  Sadducees.  The 
dialogues  of  the  Academy  Jiave  no  such  smacking 
relish. 

How  different  he  was  from  men.  He  never  in- 
vestigates or  goes  through  reasoning  processes  for 
himself,  never  takes  time  to  consider,  never  seeks 
to  spread  a  philanthropy  over  a  cosmos,  constructs 
no  theodicy,  asserts  nothing  of  the  origin  of  evil, 
does  not  write  a  system  of  all  thought  that  his 
most  intimate  pupils  cannot  understand.  He  never 
doubts  or  hesitates,  never  is  snared  or  surprised. 
He  boldly  challenges  all  mankind,  saying.  Which  of 
you  convinceth  me  of  sin  ?  He  is  talking  about 
the  truth  from  God,  or  lies  from  the  devil,  so  that 
it  might  read.  Which  of  you  convinceth  me  of  error 
or  mistake  ?  And  that  flag  of  defiance  floats  from 
the  often-assaulted  but  unshaken  battlement  to- 
day. No  man  has  ever  convinced  Christ  of  a 
mistake. 


86  The  Bible: 

It  is  a  great  achievement  of  the  human  mind  to 
mint  a  phrase  that  shall  be  accepted  as  current 
coin  in  the  world's  exchange  of  thought.  It  must 
be  so  apt,  elect,  and  expressive  that  few  men  ever 
succeed.  Most  of  the  results  of  their  mental 
travail  are  only  mice  ;  many  of  these  are  stillborn 
or  die  in  infancy.  Resurrect  a  phrase  of  yesterday 
— protoplasm,  usufruct,  unearned  increment,  in- 
nocuous desuetude.  They  refuse  to  breath  again. 
But  Christ  mints  phrases  by  the  dozen,  and  men 
refuse  to  let  them  die.  They  are  so  electly 
adapted  to  the  world's  hungers  and  thirsts.  In- 
deed, he  introduced  an  entire  new  vocabulary. 
"  The  dark  continent "  was  a  new  phrase,  full  of 
meaning.  But  that  pet  phrase  of  Christ's,  "The 
kingdom  of  God,"  is  more  than  continental.  It 
does  not  pertain  to  one  continent  or  one  world  or 
one  million  of  years,  but  to  the  unthinkable  uni- 
verse through  unthinkable  years.  Pilate  could  not 
grasp  it.  He  was  used  to  the  widespread,  more 
than  continental  extent  and  century  long  ideal  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  but  he  caught  no  meaning 
from  the  King  of  all.  He  knew  kings  in  purple 
and  gold,  armored,  crowned,  sceptered ;  but  he 
could  not  know  one  bound,  cut  with  the  lash, 
bloody  from  thorn  spines,  deserted,  betrayed,  but  a 
king  nevertheless.     N^ay,  to  be  most  king  when  he 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized.  87 

most  suffered  and  served  his  subjects — that  Pilate 
could  not  understand.  So  in  scorn  he  wrote  the 
truest  thing  he  ever  penned  and  set  it  up  over  the 
crucified  :  "  This  is  the  King." 

I  am  sure  that  jou  young  people  learning  to 
think  and  express  thought  clearly  will  wish  me  to 
dwell  longer  on  the  style  of  this  thinker  and  ex- 
pressor.  Though  he  reasons  not  for  himself  he 
does  for  others.  Would  that  we  could  catch  its 
succinctness,  clarity,  and  perfect  persuasion.  Of 
immortal  spirits  Milton  says,  they 

' '  reasoned  high 
Of  Providence,  Foreknowledge,  Will,  and  Fate, 
And  found  no  end  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 

These  were  devils.  Not  so  Jesus.  How  does  he 
treat  of  Providence  ?  He  would  not  muddle  a 
philosopher  nor  confuse  a  child.  Consider  the 
lilies  of  the  field.  If  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of 
the  field,  shall  he  not  much  more  clothe  you,  O 
ye  of  little  faith  ?  Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for 
a  farthing  ?  If  God  cares  for  the  least  shall  he 
not  care  for  you  ?     It  is  clear  as  our  electric  light. 

Concerning  foreknowledge  he  asserted :  "  Before 
Abraham  was,  I  Am."  Jesus  knew  from  the  be- 
ginning who  they  were  that  believed  not,  and  who 
should  betray  him.     It  is  luminous  as  a  star. 

Concerning  free  will  he  said  :  "  If  any  man  wills 


88  The  Bible: 

to  do  his  will  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine.  If 
any  man  thirst  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink. 
He  that  cometh  nnto  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out." 
And  his  beloved  disciple  truly  represented  him 
when  he  said,  "Whosoever  will  may  come  and 
take  of  the  water  of  life  freely."    Bright  as  a  sun. 

Concerning  fate,  he  clearly  linked  conduct  to 
destiny,  and  showed  that  character  determines 
condition — goats  on  the  left,  sheep  on  the  right ; 
and  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punish- 
ment, but  the  righteous  into  everlasting  life. 

The  tone  of  all  these  utterances  is  sublimely 
sure  ;  the  thunders  of  Sinai  are  not  more  clearly 
accentuated  or  more  definite.  Confucius  was 
great,  but  he  said,  "  I  know  not  this  life ;  how 
shall  I  teach  anything  about  the  life  to  come?" 
But  Christ  asserted  things  of  the  eternal  past  and 
the  untried  future  with  the  certainty  with  which 
we  would  talk  of  the  alphabet.  Yes,  he  must  have 
crossed  the  line  between  God  and  man  from  above. 

There  is  one  subject  that  tests  minds.  It  is 
large  and  difficult.  It  is  the  next  greatest  fact  in 
the  universe.  It  is  sin.  It  covers  the  race  and  all 
the  ages.  It  pertains  to  every  man.  It  rests  like 
a  nightmare  on  the  conscience  since  we  turned  our 
back  on  the  flaming  sword  at  the  closed  gates  of  a 
lost  Eden.     How  shall  it  be  gotten  rid  of  ?    All 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized.  89 

men  of  all  tribes,  ages,  and  conditions  have  stood 
upon  the  hilltops  and  darkened  the  pure  heavens 
with  the  smoke  of  their  sacrifices ;  they  have  even 
given  their  first-born,  the  fruit  of  their  bodies,  for 
the  sins  of  their  souls.  The  rude  Hottentot 
despairs  of  propitiation  by  any  ways  known  to 
himself,  and  the  ambitious  Lady  Macbeth  equally 
despairs :  "  All  the  perfumes  of  Araby  will  not 
sweeten  this  little  hand." 

"Will  all  great  Neptune's  ocean  wash  this  blood 
Clean  from  my  hand  ?     No ;  this  my  hand  will  rather 
The  multitudinous  seas  incarnadine, 
Making  the  green  one  red." 

But  the  whole  question  of  sin  has  no  puzzles  to 
Jesus.  All  is  as  clear  as  a  debt  that  has  been  paid, 
a  sickness  that  has  been  healed.  In  his  early 
ministry  he  said  "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee  "  as 
naturally  as  he  would  say.  Here  is  your  morning 
meal.  He  did  not  put  the  condition  in  metaphys- 
ical abstrusities  nor  in  impossible  sacrifices.  The 
debt  had  been  paid.  He  did  it  himself.  To  re- 
alize that  blessed  discharge  and  act  accordingly  re- 
quired only  faith  on  the  part  of  the  debtor.  'No 
wonder  the  weighted  debtor,  staring  the  prison  in 
the  face  till  he  had  paid  the  uttermost  farthing, 
leaped  in  gladness  and  shouted  for  joy. 

Yet  in  all  this  seeming  ease  of  forgiving  sin 


90  The  Bible: 

there  is  no  intimation  that  sin  is  a  slight  matter,  a 
mere  peccadillo.  No,  no ;  he  said  :  "  I  come  to 
seek  the  lost,  that  they  might  not  perish."  Lady 
Macbeth's  midnight  wanderings  and  sighs  are  more 
than  matched  by  the  despairing  publican  smiting 
on  his  breast  and  wailing,  ^'  God  be  merciful  to  me 
a  sinner."  The  loss  of  a  soul  cannot  be  balanced 
by  gaining  a  whole  world.  There  was  a  burden  of 
sin  that  prostrated  infinite  strength  in  the  garden 
and  nailed  infinite  love  on  the  cross.  In  denounc- 
ing impenitent  sinners  the  thunders  and  lightnings 
of  Sinai  again  rolled  and  flashed.  Sin  was  the 
one  great  sad  fact  of  humanity.  So  Christ  did  not 
set  himself  to  bettering  man's  circumstances  and 
surroundings,  but  to  curing  his  character  and  giving 
him  a  new  nature. 

Men  wanted  the  great  Helper  to  aid  their  cir- 
cumstances. They  set  their  Hercules  to  cleaning 
stables  and  slaying  the  Nemean  lion.  They 
would  have  put  Christ  at  such  labor,  ridding  them 
of  the  Homan  yoke.  But  he  did  not  set  so  great 
value  on  circumstances.  He  taught  that  men 
might  be  happy  and  prosperous  in  soul  despite  of 
circumstance.  "  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall 
persecute  you  and  revile  you  and  say  all  manner 
of  evil  against  you  falsely  for  my  name's  sake. 
Bejoice,  and    be    exceeding  glad."     There   were 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized.  91 

thousands  of  hungry  people  he  did  not  feed,  of 
sick  people  he  did  not  heal.  He  would  not  ac- 
centuate and  magnify  these  minor  evils  as  if  they 
were  the  main  thing.  He  wanted  them  to  have 
such  bread  that  they  would  never  hunger,  such 
health  that  they  should  have  eternal  life. 

He  did  not  teach  that  sin  and  its  effects  as  the 
one  great  evil  of  human  nature  came  from  mere 
ignorance  that  could  be  instructed,  or  poverty  that 
could  be  enriched,  or  debt  that  could  be  forgiven. 
Even  after  forgiveness  some  greater  work  must  be 
done  to  prevent  a  new  plunging  into  sin,  till  the 
last  state  should  be  worse  than  the  first.  Sin  is 
from  a  defect  of  nature  that  must  be  changed. 
Out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts  and  deeds. 
Ye  must  be  born  again.  Nothing  could  be  more 
radical  or  effective.  A  man  might  build  greater 
barns,  and  still  be  such  a  fool  that  he  could  not  be 
trusted  in  this  world  another  night.  He  might 
gain  the  whole  world  and  be  a  pauper.  But  if  he 
be  born  again,  recreated  anew  after  God's  likeness, 
he  is  radically  and  eternally  righted.  The  doctrine 
of  a  new  birth  may  be  a  surprise  to  every  cultured 
and  satisfied  Nicodemus,  but  it  is  the  only  doctrine 
that  radically,  sufficiently,  and,  blessed  be  God, 
satisfactorily  deals  with  the  subject  of  sin. 

We  have  said  he  was  a  worker  and  have  given 


92  The  Bible: 

his  program,  but  wliat  was  the  extent  of  his  plan  ? 
Did  he  seek  to  build  St.  Peter's  or  a  stone  fence  ? 
Long  time  ago  God  said,  "High  as  the  heavens 
are  above  the  earth,  so  high  are  my  thoughts  above 
your  thoughts."  It  would  seem  Jesus  was  speaking 
some  of  those  high  thoughts  among  men.  See 
how  comprehensive  his  plan :  "  And  I,  if  I  be 
lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  Tliis  Gos- 
pel of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all  the 
world.  The  world  through  him  might  be  saved. 
I  give  up  my  life  for  the  world.  To  his  disciples 
his  last  word  was,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature."  It  is  both 
a  collective  and  distributive  summary.  This  is  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  thought  that  all  men  of 
the  whole  world  have  been  considered  at  once. 
From  the  little  hilltops  of  Judea  Jews  had  been 
considered.  From  the  tops  of  the  seven  hills  Ro- 
mans had  been  considered.  Those  horizons  were 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  But  from  the  hills 
of  glory,  higher  than  all  heavens,  all  mankind,  the 
whole  world,  and  all  time  were  considered.  It 
was  for  the  first  time.  Yes,  surely,  Christ  crossed 
the  line  between  man  and  God  from  above. 

Seeking  to  conquer  all  men  in  all  ages,  and  to 
give  them  a  new  nature  and  a  perfect  love,  how  did 
he  go  about  it  ?     Men  had  used  certain  stereotyped 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized.  93 

ways  of  procedure — wars  of  conquest,  colonization, 
premiums  on  propagation,  purchase  of  crowns  by 
gold,  of  influence  by  bribes  and  pleasures,  diplo- 
macy, balance  of  power,  priestcraft,  etc.  But  Jesus 
turned  away  from  all  tliese  and  others  inventable 
by  man.  He  laid  aside  the  sword  and  took  up  the 
cross.  A  thousand  times  had  force  sought  to  pos- 
sess the  earth.  It  had  grasped  sections,  held  them 
a  little  while,  and  had  them  wrenched  away  by  a 
stronger  force.  Men  had  taken  the  sword  and 
perished  by  the  sword.  Now  comes  a  new  doc- 
trine, that  the  meek  shall  possess  the  earth.  For 
the  first  time  meekness  proposed  to  conquer  the 
world.  It  was  embodied  in  his  own  person.  All 
the  storms  of  human  fury  and  hate  rushed  at  him, 
surged  over  him  like  waves  over  a  rock.  But  when 
they  had  broken  themselves  into  foam  the  rock 
still  stood.  There  have  been  many  monuments 
and  inscriptions  to  men  who  have  extirpated  Chris- 
tianity. Its  widening  sway  is  proof  that  what  its 
Founder  said  is  truth,  "  The  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  it." 

How  little  did  he  seek  to  win  by  the  common 
agencies  and  influences  of  men.  When  the  rich 
young  man  came  running  to  him,  and  might  liave 
been  easily  won,  he  was  utterly  repelled  by  saying, 
"  Foxes  have  holes,  birds  of  the  air  have  nests ;  but 


94  The  Bible: 

the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head. 
Sell  all  thou  hast,  give  to  the  poor,  and  follow  in 
mj  kind  of  life."  The  great  and  good  ruler  of 
the  Jews  was  not  secured  when  it  would  have  been 
80  easy ;  nay,  he  even  dared  to  gather  to  himself 
such  men  as  Matthew  and  Zaccheus,  a  kind  bit- 
terly hated  of  tlie  Jews  for  being  taxgatherers 
for  the  Romans.  He  could  have  added  to  his  side 
either  party  of  the  contending  Pharisees  and  Sad- 
ducees,  but  he  purposely  repelled  both,  for  both 
were  wrong.  He  went  among  publicans  and  fish- 
ermen for  his  disciples,  and  the  sinners  of  the  city 
for  those  who  loved  him.  He  did  not  wish  to  put 
into  the  world  new  opinions  or  combinations  of 
parties  and  forces,  but  a  new  love,  a  new  nature. 
If  the  ruler  and  the  rich  young  man  and  the  learned 
men  lacked  the  nature  they  lacked  all  things  and 
could  not  be  used.  But  if  the  publican  and  sin- 
ner and  harlot  had  the  new  nature,  the  new  love, 
the  new  activity,  they  were  the  elements  of  which 
the  kingdom  of  God  could  be  built  and  made  to 
prevail.  Surely  Christ  crossed  the  line  between 
man  and  God  from  above.  He  brought  with  him 
the  final  religion.  I  cannot  here  give  its  necessary 
doctrines  and  proofs,  except  to  say  that  philosophy 
declares  that  the  final  religion  must  present  one 
God,  and  but  one.      It  must  dignify  and  finally 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized,  <)5 

perfect  man  and  bring  the  two  together.  And 
those  who  maj  or  may  not  have  the  philosophic 
genius,  but  who  are  seeking  for  a  final  and  per- 
fect religion  by  practical  experiment,  declare 
that  they  have  found  it.  What  it  accomplishes 
in  them  is  unquestionable  and  final  proof.  Man 
may  hold  to  a  religion  for  its  intellectual  proofs, 
but  the  final  and  satisfactory  proof  is  that  it  holds 
him. 

But  has  such  plan  and  mode  of  execution  suc- 
ceeded? I  will  not  call  the  roll  of  adherents 
through  the  ages,  nor  even  of  those  w^ho  are  among 
men  to-day,  nor  of  those  who  have  been  drafted 
out  of  the  drill  grounds  of  earth  to  heaven,  our  own 
Church  honoring  such  drafts  to  the  extent  of  over 
thirty  thousand  a  year;  but  I  assert  that  the  civil- 
ized world  is  in  the  grasp  of  the  Son  of  man  to-day. 
For  all  that  we  differ  from  pagan  Rome  or  savage 
nations  we  are  indebted  to  Him  who  spake  as  never 
man  spake.  We  count  all  our  time  from  his  birth 
as  if  all  before  were  looking  forward,  all  since  were 
looking  back.  He  is  the  one  authority  of  con- 
science. He  not  only  appeals  to  conscience,  but  en- 
lightens it.  His  law  for  justice,  truth,  and  chastity 
is  the  highest  conceivable,  and  is  the  ideal  to  which 
all  who  would  be  perfect  must  aspire.  He  puts  all 
laws  of  ethics  into  one  w^ord,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy 


96  The  Bible: 

neighbor  as  thyself."  He  did  not  utter  it  as  an 
impossible  ideal,  as  the  greatest  thing  in  thought, 
but  he  lived  it  himself.  He  lacked  in  no  respect 
its  blessed  fulfillment.  He  showed  us  such  a  lofty 
nature  that  the  etiquette  of  heaven  commended 
itself  to  men,  and  has  throned  him  as  the  King  of 
all  hope  and  progress  and  purity  to-day.  Surely  he 
crossed  tlie  line  between  man  and  God  from  above 
and  is  the  Son  of  God. 

How  perfectly  this  character  became  him.  No 
philoso})lier  claims  that  man  is  naturally  religious. 
"  It  must  be  that  I  have  two  souls,"  said  an  old 
philosopher.  And  the  philosophical  writer  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Homans  said,  "  That  which  I  do,  I 
allow  not :  for  what  I  would,  that  do  I  not ;  but 
what  I  hate,  that  do  I.  But  I  am  carnal,  sold 
under  sin.  O,  wretched  man  that  I  am !  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death?" 
All  men  seeking  to  be  perfect  find  antagonism 
between  their  souls  and  the  law.  Christ  said 
that  men  must  agonize  to  enter  into  the  straight 
gate,  and  Paul  said,  I  bruise  my  body  and  bring 
it  into  bondage  by  one  long  warfare.  But  Christ's 
nature  was  different.  His  religion  was  effortless. 
He  said,  I  do  always  the  things  that  please  God. 
My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me, 
clear  through  to  the  end  which  is  finished  by  my 


Its  Highest  Ideal  Realized.  97 

death.  He  was  tlie  light  of  the  world,  not  by 
effort^  but  by  simple  shining.  He  had  conflicts, 
but  they  were  all  without. 

But  is  this  ideal  man  only  ideal  ?  Or,  if  real 
and  actualized  in  him,  only  ideal  to  us  ?  Many  can 
think  more  than  they  can  teach  ;  can  be  more  than 
they  can  make  others.  Michael  Angelo  can  hang 
the  Pantheon  in  air,  but  cannot  make  more  Ange- 
los.  Henry  of  Navarre  can  put  his  white  plume 
in  the  forefront  of  battle,  but  he  cannot  make  an 
ideal  knight  of  the  gross  stuff  of  common  soldiers. 
Does  the  ideally  perfect  man  turn  our  whole  race 
into  one  longing  Tantalus,  ceaselessly  desiring  and 
forever  denied  ?  > 

No ;  this  Son  of  God  came  through  the  dividing 
line  that  he  might  be  seen  of  men ;  that  every 
man  might  look  into  his  face  and  say,  "  My  brother, 
hail."  He  offers  to  impart  this  nature  to  those 
who  come  to  him.  To  them  that  believe  in  him 
he  gives  the  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God. 
None  of  these  professors  can  give  you  power  to 
become  a  son  of  Newton  in  mathematics,  a  son  of 
Porson  in  languages,  a  son  of  Michael  Angelo  in 
art,  but  Jesus  can  give  you  power  to  become  a  son 
of  God,  a  brother  to  himself ;  another  perfect  man. 
7 


IV. 

THE  BIBLE:  ITS  PROPHECIES 
AND  PREDICTIONS. 


SYLLABUS. 


IV.   SUBJECT  —  The  Bible:  Its  Prophecies  and 
Predictions. 

The  Predictive  Element  Strong  in  all  Nature. 

In  disintegrating  cliffs,  blades,  birds'  nests,  ants,  migrations,  etc.    The 

painter  knows  the  panorama  not  yet  unrolled  ;  God,  the  unrolled  future. 
Some  predictions  easy  to  us.     Others  possible  only  to  God. 

The  most  difficult  demanded  by  us,  and  offered  by  God  as  authentica- 
tion o/  his  word. 

Perfect  fulfillment  relentlessly  demanded.  We  fulfill  our  little  engage^ 
ments.     God  his. 

Foretelling  a  small  part  of  Prophecy. 

It  is  mostly  a  making  known  of  God's  will  in  present  emergencies. 
The  prophet  gave  the  constitution  of  the  Jewish  state,  the  decalogue 
stood  for  morals,  etc.  The  term  prophet  means  "  to  boil  over."  God 
the  fire. 

Four  periods  of  Prophecy. 

Centuries  of  silence  between. 

(a)  The  Patriarchal. 

(h)  Mosaic. 

(c)  The  Monarchy. 

(</)  Last  and  greatest.    Time  of  Christ.    All  one  in  spirit. 

What  did  Prophecy  reveal? 

(a)  The  unity  of  God  ever  growing  more  definite. 

(3)  Human  nature. 

(c)  Personal  and  individual  immortality. 

Have  these  Predictions  ceased? 

Yes,  we  have  a  whole  revelation.  Christ  made  the  ten  Commandments 
full.  The  Providence  of  God,  the  law  of  love,  and  his  words  are  still 
alive. 

Many  Prophecies  are  to  have  successive  and  progressive  fulfillment.   All 
not  yet  fulfilled, 
{a)  Universal  peace. 
{b)  Universal  knowledge  of  Christ's  redemption. 

(c)  Overthrow  of  Satan. 

(d)  Manner  of  earth's  ending  and  new  heavens  coming. 

Prediction  understandable  only  by  fulfillment. 

True  of  astronomy,  geology,  chemistry,  etc.  True  of  future  life.  There 
are  enchanting  personal  predictions  ;  of  future  existence  ;  resurrection  ; 
definite  states ;  knowledge ;  power.  In  winter  even  we  can  foretell 
the  spring.     In  death  God  can  foretell  eternal  life. 


IV. 

THE  BIBLE: 
ITS  PROPHECIES  AND  PREDICTIONS. 

THE  predictive  element  is  strong  in  all  nature. 
The  disintegrating  cliif  predicts  the  flowery 
mead,  ttie  blade  predicts  the  ear  and  the  full  corn. 
The  bud  predicts  the  blossom,  the  flower  the  fruit, 
the  fruit,  the  seed,  the  seed  future  forests.  Birds' 
nests  have  no  value  when  done,  except  what  is  pre- 
dictive. Every  gathered  store  of  squirrels,  ants, 
and  bees  is  predictive  of  weathers,  seasons,  and 
needs  to  come.  The  long  lines  of  migratory  birds 
foretell  other  climes,  nests  in  the  reeds,  foods,  and 
guidance  to  worlds  unknown  to  them.  The  mere  ob- 
server of  a  panorama  sees  only  what  is  before  him. 
The  wonders  yet  unrolled  are  all  unknown.  But 
the  painter  knows  the  end  from  the  beginning,  the 
unrolled  as  well  as  the  displayed.  The  Maker  of 
all  sees  all.  At  his  will  a  thousand  years  condense 
to  a  day,  and  a  short  day  lingers  to  a  thousand 
years.  He  speaks  of  the  unrolled  with  the  same 
clearness  as  of  the  rolled  up.  We  predict  what  we 
will  do  ten  days  hence.     We  provide  for  its  fulfill- 


102  The  Bible: 

ment.  God  predicts  for  a  thousand  years  more 
easily  than  we  for  a  minute,  and  he  provides  for 
fulfiHrnent.  In  the  black  night  nothing  can  be 
more  unlikely  than  a  predicted  day.  But  he  who 
knows  the  order  of  nature  will  have  his  confident 
prophecies  honored  in  an  hour  by  the  sunburst. 
So  in  the  blackest  night  of  national  and  racial 
darkness  Isaiah  was  as  confident  of  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  arising  as  we  are  in  the  yet  un- 
lighted  morning  of  the  hastening  sunrise. 

It  is  easy  to  predict  some  events  that  are  con- 
tingent on  material  laws,  as  eclipses  and  con- 
junctions of  stars.  More  difficult  to  predict 
weather  ;  the  kind  of  seasons  that  are  to  come ;  the 
emergence  of  volcanoes  yet  to  rise  from  the  sea ; 
the  subsidence  of  Popocatepetl  and  Chimborazos  ; 
the  elevations  of  present  valleys  into  new  Andes 
and  Alps  ;  and  the  final  end  of  all  sublunary  things. 
But  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  predict  the  future  of 
nations  and  individuals  through  all  the  uncharted 
intricacies  of  the  free  human  will,  and  through  the 
innumerable  combinations  of  millions  of  men. 

This  last  is  what  we  demand  as  an  authentica- 
tion of  a  divine  revelation,  and  this  is  just  what 
the  prophets  offered  to  men,  that  all  these  pre- 
dictions should  be  fulfilled,  "that  ye  may  know 
that  the  Lord  hath  sent  me."     The  challenge  is 


Its  Frophecies  and  Predictions.         103 

freely  made  and  can  be  fully  investigated.  Some 
of  the  prophecies  are  made  five  minutes,  and  some 
of  them  hundreds  and  thousands  of  years,  before 
the  events.  They  are  of  a  nature  that  could  not 
be  known  by  any  human  knov^^ledge,  nor  guessed 
by  a  shrewd  observation  of  the  trend  of  the  times. 
The  prophecy  must  be  true  in  all  its  predictions, 
not  like  the  guesses  at  the  weather,  claiming 
credit  for  the  ten  per  cent  correctness,  and  ignoring 
their  ninety  per  cent  of  blunders.  The  principle 
"  false  in  one,  false  in  all  "  must  be  applied  to  a 
divine  revelation.  Christ  accepts  this  extreme 
test,  and  says :  "  It  is  necessary  for  me  to  fulfill  all 
the  law.  All  things  must  be  fulfilled  w^iich  were 
written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  j)rophets, 
and  in  the  psalms  concerning  me.  The  Scripture 
cannot  be  broken.  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass 
away  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass 
from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled."  He  even  paused 
on  the  cross  in  the  agonies  of  death,  and,  that  he 
might  fulfill  a  minute  prophecy  made  a  thousand 
years  before,  said,  "  I  thirst." 

"We  men  take  great  pains  to  fulfill  our  little  en- 
gagements of  a  few  days  hence.  We  put  our 
names  to  notes,  bonds,  and  legal  contracts  that  de- 
mand payments  years  hence ;  nay,  we  give  our 
hands  to  solemn  covenants  that  shall  determine  our 


104  The  Bible: 

whole  bearing  to  others  till  death  us  do  part. 
And  woe  to  the  defaulter  who  does  not  pay, 
prison  to  the  man  who  does  not  keep  his  covenants, 
and  the  whole  world's  scorn  to  him  who  does  not 
keep  himself  only  unto  her  who  gave  up  herself 
in  reliance  on  his  prophetic  oath.  Conducting 
larger  business,  higher  friendships,  and  closer 
unions,  shall  not  God  give  promises,  make  cove- 
nants, and  foretell  what  he  will  do  for  the  bride, 
the  Lamb's  wife  ?  Seeing  how  he  loves  her,  and 
dies  for  her,  we  cease  to  wonder  that  he  sajs  that 
the  material  heavens  and  earth  shall  pass  away 
rather  than  one  jot  or  tittle  of  his  word  shall  fail. 
In  the  Old  Testament  times  they  had  a  word  of 
prophecy  sure  to  be  fulfilled  spite  of  the  re- 
sistance of  kings  and  peoples.  For  the  prophecy 
came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of  man,  but  holy 
men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  But  in  New  Testament  times  we 
have  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy,  whereunto  we 
do  well  to  take  heed  as  unto  a  light  that  shineth  in 
a  dark  place.  "Why  more  sure?  We  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  preserve  a  record  of  fact.  History  glides 
into  misty  myths  and  tradition  as  the  centuries  go 
by.  Critics  tell  us  that  our  heroes  never  lived, 
that  William  Tell  had  no  being.  How  can  such 
older  history  as  the  Bible  remain  vivid  and  in- 


Its  Pkophecies  and  Predictions.         105 

creasingly  influential  ?  Human  genius  could  con- 
ceive no  possible  way.  But  God  has.  He  does 
not  merely  record  histo/y  accomplished,  but  also 
history  not  yet  enacted.  Then  the  great  move- 
ments of  nations  and  the  downfall  of  kingdoms  for 
thousands  of  years  become  confirmatory  of  his  pre- 
dictions. Men  might  forget  the  dying  syllables  of 
a  thousand  years  ago  historian;  but  under  God's 
plan  the  thunder  of  armies  and  the  crash  of  falling 
empires  peal  out  the  fullness  of  his  predicted 
speech,  made  centuries  before.  We  see  that  God 
has  a  new,  original,  and  eternally  infallible  way  of 
keeping  his  word  before  the  mind  of  man.  In- 
stead of  dying  out  into  myths  and  forgetf ulness  it 
grows  more  clear,  from  greater  research  and  wider 
fulfillment,  as  the  ages  roll  on.  There  lie  a  dozen 
nations,  their  conditions  just  what  were  predicted. 
The  records  of  great  peoples  are  proofs  of  pre- 
dictive wisdom  and  of  accomplishing  power.  The 
test  is  absolute.  There  can  be  no  rejection,  there 
should  be  no  doubt  that  there  is  a  wisdom  that  sees 
the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  a  power  that 
doeth  its  pleasure  not  only  in  the  armies  of  heaven, 
but  also  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Let  us  now  get  an  idea  of  the  scope,  times,  and 
subject-matter  of  this  prophetic  element  in  the 
Bible.     It  is  said  that  God  at  sundry  times  and  in 


106  The  Bible: 

divers  manners  spake  unto  our  fathers  by  the 
prophets.  All  time  is  not  one  great  even  flow  of 
prophecy.  There  have  been  prophecies  at  sundry 
times.  According  to  the  needs  of  men  God  broke 
out  of  the  heavens  with  instruction  and  exhorta- 
tion. 

Prophecy  is  far  more  than  prediction.  Indeed, 
foretelling  future  events  was  a  small  part  of  the 
role  it  played  in  sacred  history.  In  the  absence  of 
a  written  Bible,  revealing  the  will  of  God,  there 
must  be  some  way  of  making  that  will  known  in 
emergencies.  New  occasions  constantly  called  for 
new  declarations.  The  prophet  was  a  kind  of 
court  preacher,  with  divine  authority  to  say, 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  in  regard  to  national  and 
social  affairs.  In  the  early  tribal  organizations 
there  was  little  need  of  his  utterance.  A  few  tradi- 
tions of  the  will  of  God  were  sufficient.  So  also 
during  the  period  of  their  slavery  in  Egypt  their 
relations  and  their  j)ossibilities  were  few.  But 
when  they  went  out  of  slavery  and  began  to  be  de- 
veloped into  a  nation  with  relations  to  surrounding 
peoples  a  thousand  new  emergencies  arose  of  a 
national  and  international  nature.  Besides  this  a 
greatly  extended  religious  service  and  ritual  was  to 
be  established,  and  all  these  things  called  for 
greater  and  more  frequent  revelations.     Hence  we 


Its  Prophecies  and  fEEDicTiONS.         107 

see  that  the  prophet  was  a  medium  through  which 
God  could  reveal  his  will  to  his  people.  Of  course, 
they  had  peculiar  aptitudes  and  willingness  to  hear 
and  do  the  will  of  God.  Each  one  might  saj,  like 
Moses,  "Would  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people 
were  prophets."  But  some  men  are  more  spiritual 
and  conscientious  to-day.  Think  of  God's  trying 
to  communicate  his  will  and  word  through  Ahab 
and  Jezebel  and  Herod  and  Pilate  and  Judas.  He 
must  send  an  Elijah  to  Ahab,  a  Nathan  to  David, 
a  rugged  John  the  Baptist  to  the  spawn  of  vipers. 
So  the  prophet  must  give  the  constitution  of  the 
state,  the  ten  commandments ;  stand  up  for  morals 
and  obedience  to  God  and  abhorrence  of  idols. 
They  were  a  class  of  people  that  could  be  depended 
upon  to  truly  tell  God's  messages ;  rebuke  sin  in 
persons  however  great ;  cut  down  groves  that  were 
full  of  idols ;  walk  up  to  Pharaoh,  David,  Bel- 
shazzar,  and  Herod,  and  say,  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord."  The  term  prophet  in  the  original  means 
"  to  boil  over,"  and  in  the  Hebrew  it  is  always  in 
the  passive  voice,  showing  that  the  fire  that  makes 
them  boil  over  is  God,  and  the  hot  indignation 
and  fury  against  wrong  is  from  him.  What  a 
blessed  thing  if  he  had  that  class  of  people  to-day. 
We  have  them,  and  they  have  the  mind  and  will  of 
the  Lord.    It  is  their  business  to  be  as  faithful. 


lOS  The  Bible: 

We  now  see  why  tliere  was  so  little  propliecy  in 
the  patriarchal  age,  and  whj  prophecy  died  out 
with  Joseph  till  the  second  period.  This  began 
with  Moses.  Aaron,  Joshua,  and  Miriam  were 
contemporaneous  with  him,  giving  a  vast  amount  of 
revelation.  Then  came  a  long  silence  lasting  for 
three  hundred  years.  It  was  broken  but  once,  and 
then  by  the  voice  of  a  woman,  namely,  Deborah. 
The  prophecies  of  Moses  have  been  carefully  pre- 
served, the  choicest  of  them  engraved  on  stone. 
They  were  sufficient  to  guide  the  people  till  the 
time  they  wished  for  a  monarchy.  New  circum- 
stances required  new  revelations. 

Then  Samuel  and  his  associates  for  four  hundred 
and  twenty  years  uttered  the  word  of  the  Lord  to 
men.  The  monarchy  brought  many  lapses  from 
allegiance  to  God  and  msmj  turnings  to  idols.  In 
consequence  of  the  eminence  of  these  great  moral 
questions  the  Jewish  people  were  flooded  with  the 
greatest  names  and  events  in  history.  The  tenderest 
beseechings  in  human  language  were  heard ;  the 
greatest  divine  power  was  intrusted  to  men  ;  direst 
threats  were  uttered  and  executed  ;  nations  were 
overturned  and  reestablished ;  they  were  punished 
by  exile,  and  restored  as  quickly  as  they  repented ; 
and  this  earth  was  the  theater  of  battles  compared 
with  which  the  fights  of  gods  in  Homer  were  small. 


Its  Prophecies  and  Predictions.         109 

This  period  ended  with  Malachi.  After  him 
there  was  no  open  vision  or  divine  utterance  for 
four  hundred  years.  They  had  seen  the  folly  of 
idolatry  and  utterly  and  forever  renounced  it. 
They  had  their  state  constitution,  and  they  needed 
no  other.  The  whole  foundation  of  morality  was 
laid,  and  they  only  needed  to  build  on  what  they  had. 

Still  the  Jews  were  all  this  time  looking  for  a 
greater  prophet.  A  prediction  was  put  on  record 
by  Moses  saying,  "  A  prophet  shall  the  Lord  your 
God  raise  up  unto  you  of  your  brethren  like  unto 
me ;  him  shall  ye  hear  in  all  things  whatsover  he 
shall  say  unto  you."  And  all  the  prophets  from 
Samuel  and  those  that  follow  after  added  interest 
and  details  to  this  prediction.  The  portrait  of  the 
great  prophet  was  painted  in  words,  and  the  time 
of  his  coming  was  fixed.  First,  the  patriarchal 
dispensation  was  full  of  divine  direction  and  help  ; 
second,  the  founding  of  a  new  state  by  Moses  was 
a  further  revelation,  the  glory  of  which  irradiates 
our  Constitution  and  laws  to-day  ;  third,  the  perils 
and  sins  of  the  monarchy  brought  out  a  flood  of 
divine  light  and  help  ;  and  now  fourth,  the  ex- 
pectant world  waited  for  a  prophet  greater  than 
any  or  all  the  preceding  ones  to  bring  in  a  greater 
era  than  all.  It  was  not  disappointed.  God 
always  meets  the  expectations  he  has  raised. 


110  The  Bible: 

Suddenly  the  old  style  of  voice  rang  out  again 
with  its  former  authority,  definiteness,  and  all  the 
old  characteristics.  John  the  Baptist,  rugged, 
plain-spoken,  cried,  "  Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  at  hand."  We  cannot  fail  to  observe 
that  it  was  the  old  cry  for  a  turning  from  all  sin  and 
a  living  of  a  pure  life.  We  cannot  fail  to  see  that, 
like  all  prophecies,  it  was  an  enlargement  of  man's 
field  of  vision  and  lifting  of  thought  till  it  took  in 
all  beyond  the  stars.  Hear  the  prophetic  word  to 
Adam,  Thy  seed  shall  bruise  the  head  of  the  old 
serpent,  the  devil,  beneath  his  heel.  To  Abraham, 
In  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed.  To  David,  Thy  throne  shall  be  established 
forever  in  thy  seed ;  to  all  people  I  will  make  an 
everlasting  covenant  with  thee,  even  the  sure 
mercies  of  David.  Such  enlargement  of  thought 
into  the  crushing  of  sin,  and  the  chief  sinner ;  into 
blessing  all  the  families  of  the  earth ;  into  an  ever- 
lasting kingdom  in  Christ  the  son  of  David ;  and  a 
covenant  in  the  heart  with  all  the  children  of  men 
must  have  come  from  the  infinite  God. 

There  are  many  lines  of  argument  to  show  that 
in  his  being  born  of  a  virgin,  the  place,  and  the 
exact  time  of  his  birth  Christ  fulfilled  numerous 
and  minute  predictions  of  his  coming.  Indeed, 
much  of  his  life  was  so  shaped  to  fulfill  prediction. 


Its  Prophecies  and  Predictions.         Ill 

These  can  be  examined  at  your  leisure.  It  is  of 
absorbing  interest  to  find  lowly  herdsmen  and 
slaves  thrilling  the  world  with  great  moral  truths, 
living  sublimely,  and  predicting  a  vast  and  mag- 
nificent future  beyond  the  dreams  of  kings,  schol- 
ars, and  enthusiasts. 

Did  this  last  prophetic  period,  beginning  with 
John  the  Baptist  and  ending  with  St.  John  the 
beloved  disciple,  have  the  characteristics  of  the 
other  periods  of  prophecy,  namely,  that  of  the 
patriarchs,  that  of  Moses,  that  of  the  monarchy  with 
its  sin,  exile,  and  recovery  ?  Most  certainly.  The 
characteristics  of  the  prophets  were  great  fearless- 
ness in  declaring  the  truth.  It  was  nothing  for 
a  peasant  to  walk  into  the  presence  of  a  king  and 
tell  him  plumply,  squarely,  the  most  unwelcome 
truths,  even  the  overturn  of  his  dynasty  and  the 
death  of  himself.  The  practice  was  amply  con- 
tinued in  the  last  period.  To  the  powerful  and 
proud  Pharisees  rang  out  the  words,  "  Ye  serpents 
and  spawn  of  vipers,  how  can  ye  escape  the  dam- 
nation of  hell  ?  "  The  older  prophecies  had  the 
greatest  tenderness  toward  sin  repented  of  and 
forsaken.  Nineveh's  fasting  and  sackcloth  are 
followed  by  three  hundred  years  of  mercy.  The 
last  period  of  prophecy  forgives  the  sins  of  the 
palsied,  the  fallen  woman,  and  provided  for  the 


112  The  Bible: 

forgiving  of  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  The 
previous  dispensations  were  always  giving  enlarged 
conceptions  of  right,  justice,  and  the  widening  em- 
pire of  those  who  kept  the  conditions  of  success. 
The  last  dispensation  did  more;  it  said  to  slaves 
and  servants,  "  All  things  are  yours  :  things  pres- 
ent and  things  to  come,  Christ  and  God,  all  things 
are  yours."  And  this  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  must 
be  preached  in  all  the  earth.  The  whole  great  mag- 
nificent outburst  of  thought  is  crowned  by  a  perpet- 
ual dominion  in  the  clean  and  everlasting  heavens. 
Yes,  all  these  dispensations  are  one  in  sentiment 
and  spirit.  They  taught  but  one  theology,  they 
lived  but  one  religion.  The  great  thought  of  the 
unity  of  God,  too  great  for  man  to  receive  when 
plainly  told,  was  constantly  upon  their  lips.  They 
were  friends  of  the  poor  and  needy,  they  were 
foes  of  the  proud  and  oppressive,  and  yet  they 
never  volleyed  their  thunders  so  loudly  that  they 
could  not  hear  the  cry  for  mercy,  and  the  light- 
nings never  hissed  out  of  a  black  cloud  so  hotly 
that  they  could  not  instantly  give  way  to  the 
beauty  of  the  rainbow  of  peace.  The  conclusion 
is  irresistible  that  they  all  come  from  the  same 
source.  One  spirit  rules  in  them  all.  Christ  came 
to  fulfill  all  predictions,  and  could  do  so  because 
he  had  made  them  himself. 


Its  Prophecies  and  Predictions.         113 

We  eagerly  ask,  What  did  tins  greater  Prophet 
to  whom  we  must  listen  in  all  things  tell  us? 
Abraham  was  told  concerning  his  wanderings, 
place  of  abode,  and  personal  development.  Moses 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  constitution  of  the  civil 
state  and  the  moral  law.  Elijah  and  his  successors 
to  Malachi  warned  against  idolatry  and  other  sins. 
What  did  the  greater  Prophet  reveal  ? 

First.  He  reveals  God  with  far  more  definite- 
ness.  Human  reason  had  asserted  pantheism, 
everything  god ;  polytheism,  many  gods;  and  athe- 
ism, no  God ;  but  revelation  had  always  said,  one 
God.  On  Sinai  it  was  proclaimed  that  he  was 
merciful  and  gracious,  but  by  no  means  clearing 
the  guilty.  In  the  last  dispensation  this  mercy 
grew  to  infinite  love  and  the  graciousness  of  bestow- 
ing grace  by  a  life  of  work  and  a  death  of  redemp- 
tion. Our  idea  of  God  received  a  vast  uplift  when 
God  spoke  to  us  by  his  Son  who  was  the  brightness 
of  the  Father's  glory  and  the  express  image  of  his 
person.  He  not  only  spoke  to  us  by  him,  but  the 
whole  world  was  made  a  kindergarten  of  object- 
lessons  to  behold  his  life  who  came  to  show  us  the 
Father.  He  so  lived  that  whosoever  knew  him 
knew  the  Father  also.  Hence  we  know  the  char- 
acter of  God — holy ;  his  relation  to  us — that  of  a 

father  who  loves   his    children.      Nature,  by  its 
8 


114  The  Bible: 

storms  and  sunshine  and  by  its  ordered  worlds,  had 
revealed  merely  the  eternal  power  and  godhead ; 
earlier  prophets  had  added  a  great  deal  to  what 
nature  taught ;  but  Christ  revealed  him  in  his  full- 
ness. 

Second.  The  greater  Prophet  revealed  human 
nature  and  history.  His  teaching  answers  mo- 
mentous questions  which  utterly  baffled  the  mind 
of  man.  He  taught  man's  unity,  fall,  redemption, 
freedom  of  will.  The  first  prophet  showed  the 
necessity  of  sacrifices.  Under  Moses  the  whole 
matter  was  systematized.  Under  Christ  it  was 
completed,  so  that  there  never  need  be  any  more 
sacrifice  for  sin.  We  need  no  teacher  to  show 
that  there  had  been  a  fall  in  man,  nor  that  there 
was  sin  and  unutterable  misery.  But  we  did  need 
a  teacher  to  show  how  we  could  rise  into  perfect 
manhood  and  joy.  This  the  greater  Prophet 
showed.  He  gave  us  the  law  of  social  relations, 
"  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself ; "  the 
law  of  salvation,  "Believe  on  tlie  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved;"  the  ideal  of  life 
to  be  reached,  "  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  as  your 
Father  in  heaven  is  perfect ; "  and  he  gives  the 
means  of  reaching  it,  namely,  power  to  become 
the  sons  of  God. 

Third.  As  a  natural  consequence  of  such  salva- 


Its  Pkophecies  and  Predictions.         115 

tion,  perfection,  and  heredity  he  reveals  a  per- 
sonal, individual  immortality  of  your  soul  and 
mine.     Blessed  be  his  name. 

Have  these  prophecies  ceased  ?  No  such  voice 
has  been  heard  for  eighteen  hundred  years.  Shall 
we  listen  for  another  outbreak  from  the  skies? 
IS^one  is  promised.  None  of  the  groaning  nations 
are  turning  their  expectant  faces  to  the  bending 
skies.  Why  not  ?  Because  we  have  it  all.  The 
moral  law  is  so  complete  that  nothing  could  be 
added.  What  can  be  added  to  the  ten  command- 
ments as  interpreted  by  Christ  ?  How  can  you  go 
beyond  the  precept  to  love  your  neighbor  as  your- 
self ?  The  care  and  providence  of  God  are  per- 
fectly revealed.  He  orders  the  steps  of  a  good 
man  ;  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered. 
He  cares  for  us  with  infinite  care.  There  is  no 
higher  love  that  can  be  revealed  than  that  of 
which  Calvary  is  the  symbol  and  type.  Nothing 
can  be  added  to  the  largeness  and  glory  of  the  des- 
tiny of  the  faithful  and  good.  It  is  so  large  now 
that  only  experience  can  explain  it.  No ;  there  is 
to  be  no  more  outbreak  of  the  prophetic  spirit.  The 
Master  has  given  us  all  possible  words  and  ideas, 
and  he  said  of  them,  "  The  words  that  I  speak 
unto  3^ou  are  spirit ;  they  are  alive."  They  are 
like  their  utterer,  alive  for  evermore.     And  the 


116  The  Bible  : 

live  words  of  the  Master  are  better  than  the  dead 
words  of  a  man,  ev^en  though  inspired. 

Still  there  is  one  most  cheering  thought.  These 
promises  and  predictions  have  ever  been  held  to 
have  successive  and  progressive  fulfillment.  Ful- 
fillments in  the  past  are  not  the  measure  of  those 
of  the  future.  David,  when  an  old  man  dying  in 
his  bed,  said,  "  Into  thy  hands  I  commit  my 
spirit."  How  much  more  it  meant  when  Christ 
used  it,  dying  on  the  cross  under  the  burden  of 
the  whole  world's  sin.  The  promise  made  through 
Joel  to  pour  out  of  the  Spirit  on  all  flesh  was  partly 
fulfilled  at  the  Pentecost,  when  the  representatives 
of  so  many  nations  felt  its  power.  But  that  was 
little  to  the  larger,  wider,  and  all-pervasive  fulfill- 
ments that  are  now  and  are  yet  to  come. 

The  words  of  the  New  Testament  especially  are 
emphatic  words.  They  are  so  reinforced  by  in- 
tensive particles  that  it  is  difiicult  to  translate  them. 
There  is  plenty  of  room  in  the  vast  meanings  of 
God  for  deeper  experiences  and  broader  revela- 
tions to  men  than  can  be  uttered  in  the  words  in- 
vented to  express  man's  little  thoughts. 

But  besides  the  continual  and  progressive  fulfill- 
ment of  promises  have  all  tlie  predictions  been  ful- 
filled ?  Or  are  our  skies  still  pregnant  with  fateful 
lightnings,   and  is  the  daily  unrolling  panorama 


Its  Prophecies  and  Predictions.         117 

of  our  future  flushed  with  glories  eye  hath  not 
seen  ?  Most  assuredly.  The  Bible  prediction 
does  not  pertain  merely  to  the  past  and  the  little 
dynasties  of  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  Babylon.  The 
whole  eartli  is  its  field,  all  time  is  its  province. 

There  is  a  time  prophesied  when  nation  shall 
not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they 
learn  war  any  more.  A  time  when  the  earth  shall 
be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  as  waters  cover  the  sea.  From  the  rising  of 
the  sun  even  unto  the  going  down  of  the  same  my 
name  shall  be  great  among  the  Gentiles,  great 
among  the  heathen,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.  There 
are  whole  pages  of  such  prediction  that  never 
could  be  fulfilled  by  any  circumstance  of  the  Jew- 
ish state.  Tliat  this  glorious  time  is  coming,  that 
its  auroral  light  is  already  flushing  the  sky  of  the 
world,  nearly  every  close  observer  of  the  signs  of 
the  times  steadfastly  believes.  Tliere  are  predictions 
of  the  overthrow  and  extirpation  of  paganism, 
Mohammedanism,  the  papacy,  but  not  the  Chm'ch 
of  Kome  ;  predictions  of  regnant  sin  outbreaking 
and  masterful,  of  dire  conflicts  with  righteousness, 
of  the  final  supremacy  of  Christianity  in  this  world, 
and  the  overthrow  of  Satan  and  his  confinement  in 
a  state  prison  of  the  universe. 

Prediction  does  not  hesitate  to  go   forward  to 


118  The  Bible: 

tlie  end  of  the  material  world.  Far  down  the  vista 
of  time  Peter  sees  the  day  of  the  Lord  come  as  a 
thief  in  the  night,  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall 
pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements 
shall  melt  with  fervent  heat ;  the  earth  also  and 
the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up. 
But  prediction  also  sees  the  new  heaven  and  the 
new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  Be- 
loved, seeing  that  je  look  for  such  things,  be  dili- 
gent, that  ye  may  be  found  of  him  without  spot  and 
blameless,  looking  for  and  hastening  the  coming 
of  the  day  of  God. 

ISTone  of  these  predictions  are  impossible  in  the 
nature  of  the  case.  They  are  not  more  improba- 
ble than  many  that  have  been  fulfilled  in  the  past. 
There  have  been  scoffers  in  all  ages,  saying,  Where 
is  the  promise  of  his  coming  ?  For  since  the  fa- 
thers fell  asleep  all  things  continue  as  they  were 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation,  l^evertheless 
the  Lord  did  come.  So  there  will  be  scoffers  in 
the  future.  But  they  will  be  confounded.  They 
will  go  on  counting  the  days  of  their  petty  arith- 
metic on  their  fingers.  But  with  the  Lord  a  thou- 
sand years  of  mighty  transactions  can  be  condensed 
into  one  day.  The  time  element  is  usually  un- 
certain because  events  so  turn  on  the  disposition, 
free  wills,  and  deeds  of  men. 


Its  Prophecies  and  Predictions.         119 

"No  prediction  is  perfectly  understood  till  inter- 
preted by  the  grand  unfolding  of  its  fulfillment. 
It  is  too  large  to  be  grasped  by  man's  fingers,  too 
vast  to  be  comprehended  by  his  intellect.  David 
said,  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  ;  and 
the  firmament  showeth  his  handiwork.  Day  unto 
day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  showeth 
knowledge.  There  is  no  speech  or  language,  where 
their  voice  is  not  heard."  David  did  not  know  a 
thousandth  of  the  knowledge  God  poured  through 
the  stars.  All  of  modern  astronomy,  all  of 
the  spectroscopes,  discoveries,  and  all  the  demon- 
strated music  of  light  singing  through  all  the  star- 
lit spaces  was  not  known,  but  it  was  all  included 
in  the  divine  statement.  So  the  whole  earth  is 
written  over  with  prediction  and  its  fulfillment. 
Nations  rise  and  grow,  they  decline  and  fall  at  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  uttered  perhaps  centuries  be- 
fore. And  when  in  your  after  years  you  shall 
tread  the  soil  of  nations  now  buried  out  of 
sight,  and  muse  amid  the  ruins  of  the  greatest  of 
human  works  where  now  the  hyenas  roam  and 
the  bittern  cries,  you  will  see  the  ages  troop  by 
filled  with  great  streams  of  races,  bound  by  a  defi- 
nite destiny,  and  you  will  hear  all  the  centuries 
and  the  millions  chant  as  they  pass,  "  Kot  one  jot 
or  tittle  of  God's  word  shall  fail  till  the  heavens 


120  The  Bible: 

and  the  earth  pass  away.  The  Lord  God  omnipo- 
tent reigneth." 

But  there  are  prophecies  vastly  more  enchanting 
to  us  than  those  pages  upon  pages  of  minute  and 
accurately  fulfilled  declarations  concerning  Tyre, 
Sidou,  Babylon,  Jerusalem,  and  Egypt,  or  even  con- 
cerning the  future  being  and  the  end  of  the  earth. 
They  pertain  to  ourselves.  The  dej^arting  Lord 
promised  us  the  Spirit  that  should  lead  us  into  all 
truth  and  show  us  things  to  come.  Here  is  for 
students  the  enchantment  of  all  truth,  and  things 
to  come  pertaining  to  ourselves.  What  are  the 
personal  things  revealed  to  us  by  prophecy? 
First,  our  future  existence.  Men  have  ever 
asked  if  death  ends  all,  and  found  no  answer. 
The  vast  unknown  may  send  back  dismal  echoes  of 
our  hopes  and  fears,  but  further  than  this  it  is 
voiceless.  But  the  great  Prophet  says  definitely, 
"My  sheep  hear  my  voice,  and  I  know  them. 
And  I  will  give  unto  them  eternal  life ;  and  they 
shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any  pluck  them 
out  of  my  hand."  The  future  is  now  as  different 
from  what  it  was  before  he  spoke  as  a  starlit  night 
offering  us  glorious  outlook  into  infinity  is  from  a 
night  of  storm  and  blackness. 

Of  course  we  are  entirely  indebted  to  these  pre- 
dictions for  all  our  faith  in  the  resurrection  of  the 


Its  Prophecies  and  Pkedictions.         121 

body,  and  our  being  clothed  upon  with  a  house 
that  is  from  heaven. 

What  is  predicted  of  that  future  life  ?  Human 
reason  has  attained  to  nothing.  Achilles  voices 
the  best  non-Christian  thought  when  he  says, 
"  Speak  not  another  word  of  comfort  concerning 
death,  O  noble  Ulysses.  I  would  far  rather  till 
the  fields,  a  day  laborer,  a  needy  man  without  in- 
heritance or  property,  than  rule  over  the  whole 
realm  of  the  departed."  How  different  is  our  pre- 
dicted future.  Three  thousand  years  ago  we  were 
told,  "  In  thy  presence  is  fullness  of  joy.  At  thy 
right  hand  there  are  pleasures  for  evermore.  I 
shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  from  death  in  thy 
likeness."  One  of  the  elements  of  that  satis- 
faction is  knowledge.  The  greatest  rcasoner  in 
the  Church  said,  *'  ITow  I  know  in  part,  but  then 
shall  I  know  fully."  We  are  led  into  the  temple 
of  truth  here,  but  there  we  shall  have  time  and 
power  to  understand  its  beauty.  A  necessary  re- 
sult of  knowledge  is  power,  and  of  power  is 
dominion.  The  keynote  on  which  man's  existence 
was  pitched  in  the  beginning  also  opens  the  an- 
them of  his  existence  in  the  future.  Dominion  at 
first,  dominion  forever.  In  what  measure?  He 
that  has  been  faithful  over  a  few  things  shall  have 
dominion  over   many   things.    He   that   has   im- 


122  The  Bible. 

proved  his  faculties  tenfold  sLall  have  dominion 
over  ten  cities. 

When  the  cold  winds  blow,  when  the  leaves  fall 
and  universal  death  seems  invading  all  the  earth 
and  sky,  we  know  enough  to  prophesy  that 
the  spring  will  come,  the  flowers  bloom,  and 
abundant  life  surge  about  us.  "When  old  age 
comes,  feebleness  oppresses,  night  and  death  chill 
every  faculty,  there  is  One  who  knows  enough 
from  personal  experience  to  prophesy  that  eternal 
day  hastens,  life  flows  in  abundant  rivers,  knowl- 
edge is  complete,  dominion  immense,  joy  per- 
fected, and  the  likeness  of  God  restored.  With 
this  shall  we  be  satisfied. 


V. 

THE  BIBLE:  MIRACULOUS 
SIGNS  OF  GREAT  IDEAS. 


SYLLABUS. 


V.  Miraculous  Signs  of  Great  Ideas. 

Seven  Assaults  on  the  Fact  and  Credibility  oj" Miracles.     First  Six.,  at 
leasty  Unsuccessful, 

(a)  The  Jewish — done  by  Beelzebub. 

(J))  Heathen — by  some  Polytheistic  Gods,     All  dead. 

(c)  Pantheistic — Spinoza  says  contrary  to  his  idea. 

(jt)  Skeptical — Hume  says  not  credible — by  him. 

(e)  Rationalistic — Needs  an  ir  before  It. 

CyO  Historico-Critical.     Christ  according  to  Strauss. 

A  Miracle  is  an  Event  Contrary  to  Usual  Order.,  given  to  Authenticate 

God^s  Messages. 

We  cannot  accept  revealed  religion  without  supernatural  proof.     We 

demand  such  proof.      Christ  answers,  "  Believe  me,  for  my  work's 

sake."     All    heaven   and   earth    subserviently  wait   to   authenticate. 

The  greater  the  doctrine  or  revelation,  the  greater  must  be  the  proof. 

Not  necessarily  Contranatural ^  only  Supernatural. 
Mighty  works  mean  mighty  faculties.     Glad  of  them. 

Chrisf  s  Miracles  were  niostly  at  Opening  of  his  Career. 
Authentication  needed  chiefly  at  first. 

Miracles  had  Definite  Periods. 

Two  in  Old  Testament — Moses,  Elijah.     One  in  the  New  to  authenti- 
cate Christ  and  the  disciples. 

A  re  tftore  Miracles  to  fiollow  ? 

No,  not  of  that  kind.     "  THE  TRUTH  "  has  been  sufficiently  authen- 
ticated. 

The  Power  ivas  alivays  Sufficient, 

Any  sign  asked  was  easy.     Miracles  of  destruction  provocative  of  faith. 
There  is  a  greater  miracle  for  each  of  us  than  any  in  all  the  past. 


V. 

THE  BIBLE: 
MIRACULOUS  SIGNS  OF  GREAT  IDEAS. 

IF  jou  find  an  apple  tree  underlaid  with  clubs 
be  sure  the  apples  are  good.  When  the  Ceme- 
tery Ridge  at  Gettysburg  was  fui'iously  cannon- 
aded for  hours,  and  then  charged  with  three  lines 
of  intrepid  troops,  it  was  clear  that  the  enemy  re- 
garded that  point  as  the  key  to  the  position.  So, 
judging  by  the  number  and  fierceness  of  the  at- 
tacks on  mighty  works  done  for  signs  of  divine 
power,  and  commonly  but  erroneously  called  mir- 
acles, we  may  know  that  the  enemies  regard  them 
as  the  greatest  defense  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Hence  they  must  be  broken  down  and  discredited 
at  all  hazards  and  by  all  means.  The  most  terrific 
charge  of  modern  times  was  that  of  the  Russians 
at  Plevna.  But  they  only  launched  three  succes- 
sive columns  against  the  Gravitza  redoubt.  They 
took  it.  Seven  distinct  assaults  have  been  made 
against  the  credibility  and  fact  of  the  Bible  mira- 
cles. They  are  yet  untaken.  Of  course  none  of 
the  first  six  were  successful,  or  there  would  have 


126  The  Bible: 

been  no  seventh.  The  enemies  of  the  faith  con- 
cede by  each  new  attack  that  all  the  others  have 
failed ;  else  a  new  assault  would  only  be,  as  Gav- 
roche  said,  "  Killing  my  dead." 

Let  us  recapitulate  these  futile  efforts.  The  first 
was  made  by  his  haters  and  murderers  in  Christ's 
own  time.  The  people  were  convinced  and  said, 
this  is  the  promised  Son  of  David  ;  but  the  Phari- 
sees, while  confessing  the  reality  of  the  super- 
human work,  attempted  to  account  for  it — this 
man  doth  cast  out  devils  because  the  prince  of 
devils  is  in  him,  and  he  naturally  rules  them. 
Jesus  answered  on  the  spot  so  that  it  was  never 
raised  again.  The  Jewish  assault  was  dead.  The 
cause  was  still  alive. 

It  is  a  great  comfort  that  those  sharp  Pharisees 
who  were  on  the  ground  and  knew  all  the  facts 
and  had  experience  in  themselves  concerning  mat- 
ters of  that  sort  actually  confessed  that  a  devil  had 
been  cast  out.  So  in  regard  to  the  changing  of  a 
begging  cripple  into  a  rapturous  shouting  well 
man  leaping  and  praising  God,  the  critical  rulers 
said,  "  For  that  indeed  a  notable  miracle  has  been 
wrought  is  manifest  to  all  that  dwell  at  Jerusalem, 
and  we  cannot  deny  it."  The  men  on  the  spot,  both 
common  people  and  wise  men,  believed  in  mighty 
works  utterly  surpassing  the  power  of  man. 


MiRACTJLous  Signs  of  Gkeat  Ideas.      127 

The  heathen  assault  followed,  avowing  that  these 
works  were  wrought  by  some  of  the  gods  many 
and  lords  many  with  which  imagination  had  filled 
the  earth  and  air.  The  death  of  Polytheism  took 
all  the  force  out  of  that  explanation  of  conceded 
miracles. 

The  third  assault  was  pantheistic,  led  by  Spin- 
oza. He  denied  the  possibility  of  miracles  since 
it  was  contrary  to  his  idea  of  God.  Well,  it  might 
possibly  be  that  his  idea  of  God  was  surpassed  by 
God's  idea  of  himself.  It  is  far  from  being 
modest  to  assert  what  God  cannot  possibly  do  in 
nature  because  a  man's  conception  of  him  will  not 
allow  it.  The  ridiculousness  of  this  assault  was 
like  that  of  Don  Quixote  on  the  windmill — the 
assaulter  was  cast  in  the  dirt  and  the  mill  went  on. 

The  fourth  attack  was  the  skeptical  one  led  by 
Hume.  He  insisted  that  miracles  could  not  be 
made  credible ;  they  were  not  in  accord  with  human 
experience.  Neither  did  the  steamship  or  tele- 
graph accord  with  previous  human  experience ; 
but  they  are  tolerably  credible  nevertheless. 

The  fifth  was  elaborated  by  Paulus  in  his  Com- 
mentary published  in  1800.  He  calls  it  rational- 
istic. We  often  find  the  darkest  girls  called  Blanch 
or  Lily.  It  is  presumed  that  names  and  facts  will 
make  a  good  general  average  of  complexion.     This 


128  The  Bible: 

rationalistic  theory  said  Christ  did  not  make 
bread  for  the  five  thousand.  He  generously 
brought  out  his  own  stores,  and  the  generous  ex- 
ample induced  others  to  do  the  same  till  there  was 
enough  to  feed  the  multitude  and  for  twelve 
baskets  of  fragments.  He  did  not  tell  Peter  to 
catch  a  fish  with  a  stater  coin  in  his  moutli,  but  to 
catch  fish  enough  to  sell  for  that  amount.  He  did 
not  raise  Lazarus,  but  shrewdly  guessed  the  time 
he  would  come  out  of  a  swoon. 

The  din  of  this  assault  quickly  died  away.  Every 
honest  Christian  man  who  thought  that  language 
had  laws  and  words  had  meaning,  even  every  un- 
believer who  wanted  even  this  poor  respect  for 
the  word  of  God  obliterated,  repudiated  the  theory. 
Assaulted  in  front  and  rear  at  once,  this  theory  be- 
came so  poor  that  there  was  none  to  do  it  rever- 
ence. 

The  seventh  and  last  assault  is  called  the  his- 
torico-critical,  and  is  represented  by  "Woolston  and 
Strauss.  This  method  is  as  follows  :  How  should 
there  have  been  such  a  crowd  to  hear  Jesus  preach  at 
Capernaum,  where  he  was  so  well  known  ?  Why 
need  the  four  men  bearing  the  sick  of  the  palsy 
be  in  sucli  a  hurr}^  ?  How  could  they  get  up  to 
the  top  of  the  house  ?  Where  did  the  ropes  and 
pullej^s   come    from    to    let    down   the    palsied  ? 


Miraculous  Signs  of  Great  Ideas.      129 

Where  did  tliey  get  axes  to  break  up  tlie  roof  ? 
How  could  those  below  escape  being  hurt  by  fall- 
ing plaster  ?  And  why  did  not  the  owner  protest 
and  send  Jesus  up  to  the  roof  instead  of  letting 
the  palsied  down  ? 

Hear  the  higher  significance  of  the  so-called  mira- 
cle of  the  healing  of  the  palsy.  His  disease  indi- 
cates a  general  dissoluteness  of  morals.  The  four 
bearers  are  the  four  evangelists.  The  house  to 
which  he  is  to  be  carried  is  the  intellectual  edifice 
of  the  world,  otherwise  called  '^  wisdom's  home." 
But  to  the  sublime  sense  of  the  Scriptures,  called 
the  top  of  the  house,  man  is  to  be  taken.  He  is 
not  to  abide  in  the  low  and  literal  sense  of  them. 
Then  if  he  dare  open  tlie  house  of  wisdom  he  will 
presently  be  admitted  into  the  presence  and  knowl- 
edge of  Jesus.  To  what  ridiculous  credulity  men 
will  come  who  are  anxious  to  reject  faith. 

If  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  feed  common 
people  on  this  kind  of  fog  and  east  wind  he  cer- 
tainly did  not  choose  his  methods  wisely ;  for 
not  one  in  a  million  ever  perceived  his  meaning. 
"We  are  not  ready  yet  to  shout,  Great  is  Allah! 
and  Strauss  is  his  expounder  and  prophet.  Strauss 
took  clear  things  and  muddled  them,  and  left  all 
his  readers  wailing,  "  He  has  taken  away  our  Lord, 
and  we  know  not  where  he  has  laid  him." 


130  The  Bible: 

Unbelief  having  done  its  best  in  seven  different 
attempts  to  batter  down  this  rampart  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  and  utterly  failed  in  all,  let  us  now  ask, 
"What  is  the  meaning  of  a  miracle  and  what  is  its 
value  in  the  Christian  system  ? 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  mighty  forces  continu- 
ally in  full  play.  The  worlds  swing  orderly,  the 
mountains  ascend,  the  waters  gather  in  the  valleys, 
volcanoes  spout  their  cataracts  of  fire,  earthquakes 
topple  down  the  mountain  crags,  thunders  roll,  and 
lightnings  flash.  itTone  of  these  great  works  are 
accounted  extraordinary.  They  are  in  the  regular 
order  of  nature.  "What,  then,  is  a  miracle  ?  It  is 
an  event  or  effect  contrary  to  the  regularly  es- 
tablished order  of  nature  given  by  the  Creator  to 
his  messengers  that  they  and  others  may  know 
that  such  messengers  are  divinely  authorized. 
Hence  they  are  signs  from  God,  not  mere  wonders 
for  men.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  main  terms 
used  in  both  the  Old  and  "New  Testaments.  The 
term  miracle,  meaning  a  wonder,  is  a  mistrans- 
lation. It  really  means  a  sign  or  token  given  by 
God  as  a  credential  that  men  may  believe  his  mes- 
senger and  message. 

This  definition  would  seem  to  preclude  the  work- 
ing of  miracles,  so-called,  for  the  mere  benefit  of 
them  on  whom  they  are  wrought.     And  I  think 


Miraculous  Signs  of  Great  Ideas.      131 

justly,  else  all  the  sick  would  have  been  healed 
and  all  the  poor  enriched.  A  miracle  must  have 
an  educative  and  certifying  effect.  If  the  good 
done  be  a  sign,  the  thing  signified  must  be  far 
more  valuable  than  the  sign.  The  sign  on  a  man's 
store  or  office  has  little  value  compared  with  the 
goods  or  the  man  within. 

Why  are  signs  needed  ?  Because  we  will  accept 
no  revealed  religion  unless  it  has  supernatural 
proof.  And  the  greater  the  religion  the  more 
imperious  the  demand,  the  greater  must  be  the 
proof.  Why  should  we  allow  commandments  to 
be  laid  upon  us,  restricting  our  liberty  and  control- 
ing  our  acts,  unless  a  supreme  authority  authen- 
ticates the  revelation  and  stands  behind  the  com- 
mands ?  There  must  be  sufficient  proof  when  au- 
thority utters  edicts  from  which  there  is  no  appeal. 
This  is  exactly  God's  idea  in  the  matter.  Jesus 
always  spoke  of  his  mighty  acts  as  signs  conducive 
to  belief;  that  men  would  not  be  guilty  for  re- 
jecting him  had  he  not  done  sufficient  works  to 
give  a  perfect  and  sufficient  credential  for  his  de- 
mands. "If  I  had  not  done  among  them  the 
works  which  none  other  man  did,  they  had  not  had 
sin :  but  now  have  they  both  seen  and  hated  both 
me  and  my  Father.  But  now  they  have  no  cloak 
for  their  sin.     Believe  me  for  my  work's  sake." 


132  The  Bible: 

If  a  religion  that  claims  absolute  power  over  acts, 
thoughts,  and  conscience  must  have  sufficient 
proof,  this  authority  cannot  rest  on  pleasure,  rec- 
ognized utility,  nor  general  good,  but  on  the 
supreme  will  of  God,  and  this  will  must  be  super- 
naturally  avouched.  The  doctrines  of  the  Bible 
do  not  sufficiently  commend  themselves  to  unas- 
sisted human  reason.  That  God  took  our  nature, 
suffered,  died,  and  must  be  supremely  and  eter- 
nally worshiped  is  not  a  discovery  of  the  human 
intellect.  Nor  does  it  always  accept  it.  Where 
is  the  proof  ?  Partly  by  prophets — that  has  been 
considered — and  partly  the  supernatural  signs  that 
are  now  before  us. 

To  authenticate  the  prophets  was  a  necessity. 
If  they  taught  truth  already  known  no  credentials 
were  needed  more  than  the  preacher  needs 
them  to-day.  But  when  any  great  advance  in 
revelation  was  to  be  made,  all  earth  and  heaven 
stood  subservient  to  its  indorsement.  All  the  ten 
plagues  waited  as  ministrant  proofs  on  Moses 
before  Pharaoh,  and  all  the  dividing  of  the  Bed 
Sea,  the  miracle  of  manna,  the  thunders  and  light- 
nings of  Sinai,  the  opening  of  the  earth  to  swallow 
the  sons  of  Korah  waited  on  Moses  to  authenticate 
him  before  the  children  of  Israel.  Without  these 
credentials  Moses  would  have    been  slain  as   an 


MiKAcuLors  Signs  of  Great  Ideas.      133 

impertinent  meddler  by  Pharaoh,  or  as  an  im- 
pious usurper  by  IsraeL  God  constantly  insists 
on  this  credential  character  of  miracles.  On  the 
day  of  Pentecost  Peter  says,  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
a  man  approved  of  God  unto  you  by  mighty 
works  and  wonders  and  signs,  which  God  did  by 
him  in  the  midst  of  you."  And  in  Hebrews  it  is 
said  the  "great  salvation  which  at  the  first  be- 
gan to  be  spoken  by  the  Lord,  and  was  confirmed 
unto  us  by  them  that  heard  him  ;  God  also  bearing 
them  witness,  both  with  signs  and  wonders,  and 
with  divers  miracles,  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 
The  proper  feeling,  then,  for  us  to  have  at  the 
sight  or  reading  of  any  mighty  work  such  as  feed- 
ing a  multitude,  stilling  a  tempest,  raising  the  dead, 
is  not  a  stupefying  feeling  of  wonder,  but  an  open- 
eyed  alertness  of  mind  asking.  What  great  truth 
does  this  authenticate  ?  What  great  teaching  is  at- 
tempted ?  What  great  teacher  is  declared  to  be 
sent  from  heaven  in  whom  God  is  well  pleased  ? 
The  Chinaman  or  the  child  may  regard  powder  as 
a  means  of  making  a  fizz  that  ends  with  a  cracker ; 
but  a  full  man  must  regard  powder  as  a  means  of 
rending  the  heart  out  of  a  mountain  or  as  a  power 
to  annihilate  the  oppressors  of  the  race  and  estab- 
lish the  freedom  of  man.  So  of  these  greater 
powers,  those  who  are  despisers  must  wonder  simply 


134  The  Bible: 

and  perish.  But  the  signs  which  Jesus  did  were 
written  that  ye  might  believe  the  inexplicable 
truth  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God ; 
and  that  believing  ye  might  have  life  through  his 
name.  The  greater  the  doctrine  the  greater  the 
need  of  proof.  If  there  were  no  great  revelation 
offered  ns  we  should  need  no  great  proof.  But 
we  are  glad  that  there  are  truths  great  enough  to 
require  all  nature  to  groan  in  travail,  to  require 
that  seas  and  lands  be  divided,  that  the  sun  be 
darkened,  and  the  dead  raised  from  their  graves  to 
sufficiently  certify  their  greatness  and  reality.  All 
hail  to  truths  so  great  that  words  of  human  origin 
and  compass  have  no  use !  Concerning  the  stu- 
pendous fact  of  the  self-resurrection  of  our  Lord 
Luke  says  it  was  made  certain  by  many  infallible 
proofs.  But  the  greater  fact,  that  we  might  have 
eternal  life  through  his  name,  needs  many  more  in- 
fallible proofs.  But  converted  millions  have  de- 
clared that  these  proofs  were  blessedly  sufficient. 

IN^ow,  what  is  a  sign,  wonder,  or  miracle  ?  It  has 
already  been  said  to  be  an  event  with  a  super- 
natural significance.  It  is  not  necessarily  a  super- 
natural event.  When  God  made  the  rainbow  a 
sign  it  was  just  a  natural  rainbow.  A  miracle  is 
not  contrary  to  nature,  as  we  ordinarily  observe 
it,  but   superior   to   it.     It  rises   above  ordinary 


Miraculous  Signs  of  Great  Ideas.      135 

material  laws.  But  material  laws  are  all  made 
elastic,  flexible,  and  easy  to  be  overcome  when  a 
higher  force  is  brought  to  bear.  We  overcome 
gravitation  every  time  we  rise  or  toss  a  ball  in  air. 
It  is  mastered  when  the  sun  lifts  millions  of  tons 
of  water  and  bears  them  over  the  continent. 
This  is  not  thought  to  be  unnatural  in  the  case  of 
the  rain.  Why  should  it  be  thought  unnatural 
when  the  divided  sea  stood  upright  in  heaps  for 
Israel's  forces  to  go  through  dry  shod  ?  What  is 
unnatural  to  the  department  of  gravitation  is  per- 
fectly natural  to  the  department  of  sunshine. 
And  what  transcends  the  department  of  sunshine 
may  be  perfectly  natural  to  forces  that  God  sends  to 
wait  on  the  outstretched  rod  of  Moses  that  tlie  Egyp- 
tians may  know  that  he  is  the  Lord.  The  miracles  of 
earth  are  only  the  common  things  of  the  skies. 
All  our  forces  come  out  of  the  spirit  world  and  are 
inferior  to  those  that  have  free  play  there.  It  is 
the  Spirit  that  forms  the  v/orlds,  bestows  on  them 
the  so-called  forces  of  nature,  and  upholds  those 
forces  by  the  word  of  its  power.  Hence,  whenever 
the  spiritual  is  brought  to  bear  all  lower  forces  feel 
its  mastering  superiority.  Man  masters  these 
lower  forces  in  a  thousand  ways.  And  if  man, 
shall  not  God  ?  What  Christ  did  was  natural  to 
him  as  breathing  is  to  us. 


136  The  Bible: 

The  term  used  by  Matthew  (xi,  20),  and  translated 
^'mighty  works,"  might  as  well  be  translated  mighty 
faculties.  So  that  healing  the  sick,  giving  sight  to 
the  blind,  and  raising  the  dead  were  the  ordinary 
outworkings  of  his  faculties  or  capacities.  It  was 
no  more  for  him  to  turn  water  into  wine  in  the  jar 
than  to  do  it  in  the  grape ;  no  more  to  make 
nourishment  in  his  fingers  than  to  do  it  in  the 
growing  wheat. 

How  glad  we  should  be  if  our  best  feeling, 
thought,  action,  electness,  and  effectiveness  in 
speech  ever  equaled  Christ's  ordinary  feeling, 
thought,  and  action  and  expression.  His  everyday 
life  utterly  surpasses  our  rarest  ecstacy.  Of  course 
his  deeds  will  be  wonders  and  signs.  Lofty  deeds 
always  wait  on  lofty  thoughts.  King  Herod  heard 
of  these  deeds  and  accounted  for  them  as  follows : 
It  is  John  the  Baptist ;  he  is  risen  from  the  dead ; 
therefore,  mighty  works  do  show  themselves 
forth  in  him.  To  have  been  in  the  spirit  world 
and  come  back  is  reason  enough  for  mighty  works. 
"What  of  Him  who  came  down  out  of  the  spirit 
world  at  first  and  went  back  and  forth  as  easily 
as  we  cross  the  boundaries  between  countries? 
Can  we  ever  hope  to  touch  his  best,  whose  ordinary 
so  surpasses  us  ?  Yes,  he  says  we  may  enter  into 
his  joy  and  sit  down  on  his  throne.     There  can  be 


MiEAcuLous  Signs  of  Great  Ideas.      137 

no  more  intense  expression.  But  between  now 
and  then  we  must  expect  signs  and  mighty  works 
to  teach  mightier  thoughts  and  feelings. 

It  is  an  unutterable  joy  to  me  that  the  Son  of 
man,  wearing  our  form  and  claiming  to  be  our 
brother,  has  such  faculties,  does  mighty  works  as 
easil}^  as  I  breathe,  goes  back  and  forth  through 
the  gates  of  death  unscathed,  and  goes  up  from  the 
earth  in  glory,  sending  his  angel  to  say,  "  This  same 
Jesus  shall  likewise  come  again  in  like  manner." 
It  has  enlarged  our  thought,  lifted  up  our  human- 
ity, and  unspeakably  glorified  our  kingship  over 
all  things.  We  know  not  now  what  we  shall  be, 
but  we  know  that  when  this  same  Jesus  shall  ap- 
pear we  shall  be  like  him.  He  that  brings  such 
extraordinary  thoughts  must  have  extraordinary 
credentials. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  great  outbreak 
of  mighty  works  as  signs  was  at  the  beginning  of 
Christ's  career  and  not  at  the  close.  He  must  be 
authenticated  at  the  first.  It  was  at  the  very 
opening  of  his  ministry,  even  before  the  sermon  on 
the  mount,  that  there  was  such  a  profusion  of 
miracles  that  no  attempt  was  made  to  describe  them 
separately.  They  were  summarized  as  follows : 
They  brought  unto  him  all  sick  people  that  were 
taken  with  divers  diseases  and  torments,  and  those 


138  The  Bible: 

that  were  possessed  with  devils,  and  those  which 
were  hmatic,  and  those  that  had  the  palsy,  and  he 
healed  them.  Toward  the  close  of  his  ministry 
miracles  were  rare  enough  to  be  described  in  detail. 
"When  once  the  teacher  gets  authority  let  tbe 
wonders  cease  that  the  truth  may  be  regarded, 
unless  greater  and  greater  truth  is  to  be  revealed. 
"We  see  the  proper  result  of  every  miracle  dis- 
played in  the  blind  man  cured  and  the  leper 
healed.     They  worshiped  him. 

How  could  miracles  be  such  a  great  authentica- 
tion ?  What  certificates  of  divine  care  do  they 
bring  ?  They  were  performed  in  the  presence  of 
critics  and  enemies  anxious  to  repudiate  them. 
Critics  now  say  they  would  like  to  have  these 
miracles  performed  in  a  hall  before  a  scientific 
committee  of  investigation.  What  sort  of  a  hall 
would  they  desire  for  the  plagues  that  covered  the 
whole  land  of  Egypt,  and  for  the  darkness  that 
was  over  all  the  land  of  Judea  from  the  sixth  to 
the  ninth  hour  ?  What  could  their  commitj:ee  re- 
port if  the  earth  swallowed  them  up  with  the 
other  sons  of  Korali  ?  There  was  a  sharp,  alert 
committee  in  every  case,  and  they  said,  "  A  great 
and  notable  miracle  has  been  wrought,  and  we 
cannot  deny  it." 

There  was  not  one  miracle  merely,  but  many, 


MiEAcuLous  Signs  of  Great  Ideas.      139 

covering  many  centuries  and  thousands  of  years. 
Yet  as  prophecy  had  its  periods  so  did  its  sister 
sign  the  miracle.  Even  the  heathen  poet  Horace 
said,  "Let  not  a  god  intervene  unless  there  is  a 
knot  worth  his  untying."  We  must  not  call  on 
God  for  things  we  need  to  do  for  ourselves. 
Hence  these  miraculous  signs  have  great  epochs. 
There  are  but  two  in  the  Old  Testament  and  one 
in  the  'New.  When  Moses  came  to  establish  a  new 
state  and  systematize  religious  observances,  and 
lead  the  Church  up  to  Canaan,  the  whole  heavens 
bent  to  aid,  and  lent  all  their  superior  forces  to 
authenticate  the  divine  messenger  and  message. 
All  Egypt,  the  Ked  Sea,  the  wilderness,  Jordan, 
and  the  land  of  Canaan  so  thrilled  and  throbbed 
with  the  powers  of  the  heavenly  state  that  Peter 
referred  to  it  at  Pentecost  fifteen  hundred  years 
later  as  one  of  the  things  best  known  to  his 
auditors :  "  This  man  Moses  led  Israel  forth  having 
wrought  wonders  and  signs  in  Egypt  and  in  the 
Ped  Sea  and  in  the  wilderness  forty  years."  Again, 
when  all  the  true  religion  in  the  world  seemed  in 
danger  of  going  down  before  the  witchery  of  idol- 
atry, and  Elijah  said,  "I  alone  am  left  who  have  not 
bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,"  then  once  more,  and  by 
sheer  necessity,  the  heavens  put  their  powers  into 
the  hands  of  men.     And  they  shut  the  skies  that 


IttO  The  Bible: 

they  rained  not ;  called  down  a  sort  of  fire  from 
heaven  that  could  burn  water ;  divided  the  river 
Jordan  again,  and  raised  the  dead.  Even  an  angel 
came  to  turn  the  army  of  Sennacherib  into  dead 
men.  It  seemed  as  if  supernatural  powers  could 
not  do  enough  to  save  imperiled  religion. 

Then  seven  hundred  years  later  Homan 
supremacy  and  corruption  covered  the  earth. 
Even  the  very  gods  were  debauchees.  "Worship 
was  a  debauchery.  Skepticism  was  so  universal 
that  one  whole  sect  of  the  Jews  denied  a  future 
life.  The  other  was  made  up  of  triflers,  sneerers, 
and  politicians  who  esteemed  their  own  traditions 
and  puerile  ends  above  the  kingdom  of  God. 
And  Pilate  sneered  at  the  truth  in  the  presence  of 
Him  who  was  truth  itself.  O  pitiable  world,  not 
only  hating  religion  and  making  the  word  of  God 
of  none  effect,  but  also  murdering  the  Prince  of 
life  who  came  to  save  it,  what  hope  is  there  for 
it?  It  is  a  maniac  world,  homeless,  helpless,  sob- 
bing, or  shrieking  through  the  dark. 

But  the  merciful  heavens  are  not  unmindful. 
Homer  voices  the  Greek  theology  when  he  says : 

* '  The  gods  decreed  to  wretched  men 
To  live  in  anguisli.     They  themselves 
Are  griefless." 


Miraculous  Signs  of  Great  Ideas,      141 

Hear  the  Christian  poet  sing,  so  differently : 

"There  is  no  place  where  earth's  sorrows 

Are  more  felt  than  up  in  heaven  ; 
There  is  no  place  where  earth's  failings 

Have  such  kindly  judgment  given." 

Hence  in  time  of  direst  need  the  King,  who 
had  sent  his  servants  that  had  been  beaten,  shame- 
fully entreated,  and  killed,  sends  his  Son.  He 
must  be  plentifully  credentialed.  The  signs  are 
significant  and  sufiicient,  the  voices  are  definite, 
"  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  hear  ye  hira."  There 
could  be  no  greater  and  more  conclusive  authen- 
tication. 

These  divine  credentials  are  continued  to 
establish  the  fact  that  the  apostles  are  really  com  • 
missioned  and  sent  by  Christ.  They  teach  the 
same  truths.  Earth  continues  to  borrow  the 
potencies  of  heaven  as  proofs  until  the  truth  is 
established  and  has  free  course  to  run  over  the 
earth  and  be  glorified. 

"What  has  followed  ?  Kot  more  miracles,  but 
more  and  wider  acceptance  of  the  truth  previously 
authenticated.  Since  that  hour  we  have  had 
progress  and  not  backsliding.  There  has  been  no 
century  that  was  not  better  than  any  preceding. 
We  are  closing  one  long  morning  of  nearly  nine- 
teen hundred  years.     We  look  on  gray  hints  in  the 


142  The  Bible: 

east,  auroral  rajs  that  shoot  up  the  skj,  clouds 
that  change  from  darkness  to  glory,  morning  stars 
vanishing  into  greater  brightness ;  we  quaff  fresh 
morning  airs  that  seem  like  breaths  from  heaven ; 
we  hear  songs  not  of  birds  only,  but  of  happy 
nations.  It  is  all  one  long  morning.  What  will 
the  noonday  be  ? 

Let  the  sign  eras  close.  The  truths  they 
authenticate  are  a  thousand  times  more  dear.  It 
is  something  to  say  the  devils  are  subject  unto  us, 
but  we  rejoice  far  more  that  our  names  are  worthy 
to  be  written  in  heaven.  It  is  something  to  have 
j)alsy  cured,  but  it  is  so  small  that  it  is  not  mentioned 
in  the  haste  of  Jesus  to  say,  ^'  Thy  sins  are  for- 
given thee."  A  miracle-worker  is  great,  but  he  is 
nothing  to  a  truth-teacher.  Christ  showed  many 
mighty  works,  but  he  said  of  him  that  believed  on 
him  as  the  truth  of  all  the  worlds,  "  Greater  works 
than  these  shall  he  do."  His  mighty  works  were 
recorded  for  our  learning  and  encouragement. 

The  power  was  always  sufficient  and  infallible, 
There  was  no  case  that  baffled  the  worker,  a  resur 
rection  being  as  easy  as  a  birth.  The  stilling  of  a 
storm  of  a  whole  sea  turns  on  a  word  as  readily  as 
baffling  the  rage  of  one  man.  It  made  no  differ- 
ence even  to  earlier  and  minor  prophets  what  sign 
was  asked.     To  Ahaz  Isaiah    offered   any    sign. 


MiRAcuLOTJS  Signs  of  Great  Ideas.      143 

Make  it  deep  unto  Hades  below,  or  high  in  the 
vault  of  heaven  above.  And  to  Hezekiah  it  was 
no  matter  whether  the  sign  should  be  the  going 
forward  or  backward  of  the  shadow  on  the  dial. 
The  ease  of  all  these  things  makes  belief  in  our 
greater  things  of  the  future  possible.  Glance 
ahead  with  the  eje  of  prophecy.  The  Gospel  of 
the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  to  all  nations,  the 
precious  light  of  our  nineteenth  century  shall 
penetrate  all  places  of  darkness.  The  habitations 
of  cruelty  shall  be  full  of  kindness  and  love.  Long 
after  that  the  world  and  all  that  is  therein  shall  be 
burned  up,  pass  away  with  a  great  noise ;  but  we 
look  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness.  Creation  certainly  has 
been.  Recreation  is  as  possible.  The  new 
Jerusalem  shall  come  down  from  God  out  of 
heaven  adorned  as  a  bride  for  her  bridegroom  as 
easily  as  we  send  up  a  balloon.  We  will  remember 
that  all  these  mighty  works,  unthinkably  great,  are 
still  for  signs  of  higher  thought  and  greater  ecstacy. 
The  sea  of  glass,  the  streets  of  gold,  the  walls  of 
precious  stones,  the  glory  that  cannot  be  borne  by 
mortal  vision,  the  painless,  tearless  state,  the  sound 
of  shouts  like  the  voice  of  many  waters,  the 
harpers  harping  with  their  harps  are  not  finalities 
and   things,  but    are  signs  of   inner  states  and 


144  The  Bible  : 

spiritual  joys.  It  has  always  been  a  matter  of 
Christian  faith  that  wrecks  and  destruction  are  not 
provocative  of  despair,  but  rather  helps  to  soul 
states  better  than  lost  or  recovered  worlds.  There 
is  a  sacred  trust  that  cannot  be  shaken.  It  is  only 
heightened  by  miracles  of  disaster.  The  psalmist 
said,  "  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength.  Therefore 
we  will  not  fear,  though  the  earth  be  removed,  and 
though  the  mountains  be  carried  into  the  midst  of 
the  sea;  though  the  waters  thereof  roar  and  be 
troubled,  though  the  mountains  shake  with  the 
swelling  thereof."  Such  miracles  of  destructive 
power  are  only  signs  of  the  protective  power  to 
those  whose  refuge  is  in  Him.  So  testifies  Habak- 
kuk,  so  Paul,  so  Peter.  It  is  precisely  the  case  of 
an  old  colored  woman  in  the  earthquake  at 
Charleston.  Houses  were  crashing  down,  the 
earth  tossing  like  waves,  men's  hearts  failed  them 
for  fear.  They  cried  out  and  prayed  in  the 
agonies  of  despair.  But  she  was  shouting  for  joy. 
It  was  a  sign  of  the  power  of  her  God.  "  Halle- 
hiiah.  My  Jesus  has  power  to  shake  terribly  the 
earth."  So  with  the  wreck  of  the  worlds.  If 
that  great  event  can  be  made  a  sign  of  power  and 
an  incentive  to  confidence  in  that  power,  all  the 
inhabitants  thereof  and  all  the  spectators  from 
heaven  shall  surge  forward  in  one  great  sunburst 


Miraculous  Signs  of  Great  Ideas.      145 

of  new  faith.  God  would  gladly  wreck  a  world 
any  time  if  the  mighty  work  would  give  new 
trust  to  his  humblest  child.  That  is  largely  what 
death  is  for. 

The  prophecies,  providences,  and  miracles  in 
our  daily  lives  have  come  to  be  so  common  that  we 
think  of  them  as  matters  of  course,  naturally  to  be 
expected.  We  long  for  some  fire  to  come  down 
on  our  mountains;  some  voice  that  shall  be  as 
personal  to  us  as  the  Father's  was  to  our  Elder 
Brother;  some  Jordan  to  be  divided  in  our  path- 
way to  the  promised  land.  Our  Father  is  not  un- 
mindful. "We  come  to  the  Jordan  of  death.  In 
surprise  we  find  ourselves  passing  over  dry  shod. 
We  say  there  is  no  river.  We  hear  a  voice  saying 
with  infinite  tenderness,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you. 
Be  not  afraid."  Thus  there  comes  into  our  ex- 
perience as  great  a  miracle  as  ever  came  to  Moses 
or  Elias.  It  is  a  sign  of  a  great  idea,  a  new 
revelation.  Faith  bursts  into  full  flower,  and  so 
the  heavenly  Canaan  is  entered.  Thus  death  is 
ours,  and  its  great  miracle  can  bring  such  an  out- 
bursting  faith  that  the  best  and  highest  life  here 

may  say  "  to  die  is  gain." 
10 


VI. 

THE  BIBLE:  CRITICISM,  LEGITI- 
MATE AND  NECESSARY. 


SYLLABUS. 


VI.  SUBJECT — Criticism,    Legitimate  and  Neces- 
sary. 

The  Bible  viore  criticised  than  any  other  book. 

This  certifies  its  largeness.  Greater  than  any  human  mind.  Philosophy 
is  too  large  to  be  mastered  ;  hence  a  dozen  forms.  So  the  Bible — it  is 
here  to  stay.    We  must  deal  with  it. 

Firsts  we  will  keep  the  right  tejnper  of  truth-seekers. 

Openness  to  conviction,  till  the  whole  case  is  in.  Knowledge  of  one 
thing  does  not  imply  knowledge  of  all.  Scientists  have  made  innu- 
merable and  colossal  mistakes.    Dozens  of  theories  dead. 

The  Bible  is  presumably  true. 

Millions  of  earnest,  thoughtful  souls  have  thoroughly  believed  it. 
After  every  possible  assault  it  lives — immensely. 

We  agree  that  every  department  has  its  own  tests. 

As  many  faculties,  so  many  fields  ;  eyes  for  color ;  logic  for  mathematics  ; 
heart  for  religion.  Natural  selection  overcome.  Supernatural  selec- 
tion. 

We  will  observe  due  order  and  values  0/  truths  and  /acuities. 
Different  faculties  relate  to  bread-getting,  love,  and  knowing  God. 

*'  Higher  Criticism.^''     The  Bible  invites  it. 

Its  friends  have  always  been  doing  it. 

Five  departments :  Textual,  Historical,  Archaeological,  Philosophical, 
and  Experimental.  In  every  department  the  Bible  is  stronger  every 
decade.     Many  a  Red  Sea  is  full  of  corpses  of  the  Egyptians. 


VI. 

THE  BIBLE: 
CRITICISM,  LEGITIMATE  AND  NECESSARY. 

THE  Bible  has  been  subject  to  more  criticism, 
both  better  and  worse,  than  anything  else  in 
the  world  and  perhaps  out  of  the  world.  That 
is  right,  natural,  and  to  be  expected.  That  fact 
testifies  to  its  largeness.  'No  man  spends  his  life 
investigating  a  molehill.  A  glance  is  enough. 
The  whole  of  it  is  in  its  name  of  two  syllables. 
But  critics  who  keep  busy  for  thousands  of  years 
on  one  book  simply,  themselves  attest  its  largeness, 
a  largeness  greater  than  the  human  mind.  Ah,  is 
that  true  ?  Certainly,  else  some  great  soul  would 
look  at,  discuss  it,  settle  its  position,  and  be  done 
with  it  forever.  Several  notable  minds  thought 
they  had  done  with  it.  They  named  the  product 
superstitions,  fears,  jumble  of  incongruities,  etc. ; 
we  will  rid  mankind  of  the  incubus.  But  before 
they  could  be  done  with  their  words  it  again  filled 
the  thought  and  heart  of  man.  That  is  not  strange. 
There  are  several  things  larger  than  man's  thought 
at  present.  Take  philosophy,  an  understanding 
and  classification  that  tries  to  cover  all  phenomena. 


150  The  Bible  : 

Like  the  scliooner  that  a  landsman  tried  to  man- 
age, it  is  too  much  for  us.  Most  of  us  have  not 
yet  found  our  starting  point,  nor  made  sure  of  our 
first  principles. 

There  are  seven  forms  of  philosophy,  some 
horrid  as  Sycorax,  and  some  beautiful  as  a  siren, 
through  which  runs  one  idea,  namely,  stress  is 
laid  on  the  sensible  rather  than  the  supersensible. 
Under  this  general  head  would  be  classed  mate- 
rialism, sensualism  (the  word  is  used  in  the  philo- 
sophic sense),  externalism,  utilitarianism,  positiv- 
ism, secularism,  and  agnosticism.  And  under 
their  banners  march  many  great  names — Locke, 
Bacon,  Comte.  Then  there  is  the  other  extreme 
called  idealism,  that  magnifies  the  supersensible 
and  more  or  less  seeks  to  discredit  the  sensible. 
Under  this  banner  train  mysticism,  asceticism, 
spiritualism,  and  superstition.  And  between 
these  extremes  human  thinking  has  been  vibrating, 
occupying  both  sides  of  the  road  at  once  with  a 
scared  look  on  its  face,  like  a  tyro  on  a  bicycle,  that 
seems  at  once  both  drunk  and  totally  depraved. 
The  only  difiiculty  is  this,  philosophy  is  too  large 
for  it  at  present.  But  then  these  efforts  develop 
man ;  he  all  the  time  gets  larger,  and  philosophy 
remains  the  same.  So  there  is  prophecy  in  fact 
and  in  word,  that  finally  every  knee  shall  bow  and 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Necessary.    151 

every  tongue  confess  to  some  great  principles 
everlastingly  true  and  omnipotently  strong.  O 
for  some  teacher,  come  from  somewhere,  who  can 
turn  a  straight  furrow  through  the  field  of  the 
universe.  Plenty  of  men  have  attempted  it,  but 
when  they  have  driven  to  the  end  we  look  back 
and  see  that  their  driving  has  been  as  crooked  and 
helpless  as  Phaeton's  and  as  destructive  and  black- 
ening to  some  beautiful  Afric  world.  The  team 
is  always  too  much  for  the  boy.  The  only  way  to 
save  the  world  is  to  hit  him  with  a  thunderbolt 
and  restore  the  sun  to  its  accustomed  path. 

So  with  Bible  criticism.  Foes  and  pretended 
friends  have  been  at  it.  It  was  buried  in  the  tomb 
of  the  dead  languages  for  centuries  and  sealed 
with  a  seal,  and  a  watch  set.  But  the  stone  was 
rolled  away,  and  it  came  forth  in  the  glorious 
speech  of  the  men  of  to-day.  Then  the  vastest 
army  on  the  earth  was  set  to  hunt,  pursue,  and 
find  every  copy  that  had  escaped,  and  burn  it. 
But  its  ashes  were  like  the  blood  of  the  martyrs. 
Men  established  a  substitute  for  its  teachings,  and 
decreed  that  one  man  should  be  infallible  in  its  place. 
But  it  would  not  be  retired.  It  came  forth  as 
the  sun  comes  in  the  morning,  and  both  the  fogs 
and  darkness  of  nature  and  the  rush  lights  of  man's 
making  disappeared  at  once. 


152  The  Bible  : 

Whatever  else  is  true  in  your  present  and  future 
scholarly  life,  young  gentlemen — for  in  all  these 
matters  of  faith  women  are  all  right  anyhow — this 
is  settled  :  you  must  have  to  do  with  the  Bible. 
As  an  object   of   profound   interest,   of   highest 
study,  and  a  base  of  all  morals  and  government 
this  book  is  here  to  stay.     You  may  ignore  the 
tariff,  but  the  custom  house  officer  will  not  ignore 
you  when  you  come  into  port.     The  great  facts 
and   forces   of  law   are   greater   than  your  little 
contempt.     You  may  curl  your  bedowned  lip  at 
coeducation  and  the   woman   question  generally, 
but  that  does  not  prevent  the  girl  from  getting 
higher  marks  than  you  do.     You  may  cry  to  the 
Bible   like  Macbeth  to   the  ghost   of    Ban  quo : 
"  Hence,  horrible  shadow,  unreal  mockery,  hence," 
but  it  quietly  sits  on  in  Macbeth's  place,  pushes  him 
from  the  stool,  makes  him  reveal  his  murderous 
heart  and  hand.     It  rose  out  of  the  spirit  world  that 
is  the  source  of  all  power.     So  in  all  the  years  of 
your  coming  life  the  Bible  will  rise  out  of  the 
spirit  world  with  the  same  voice  that  commanded  the 
light  to  shine  out  of  darkness.     The  loftiest  schol- 
arship will  revere  it.      Ethics  will  turn  to  it  for 
its  principles  and  authority.     Philosophy  will  find 
its  loftiest  flights   therein.      Legislation  will   be 
based  on  it.     There  poetry  will  find  its  deepest 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Kecessaky.    153 

wells  of  inspiration,  and  oratory  its  most  sonorous 
periods  and  aptest  quotations  to  bejewel  its  grand- 
est fliglits.  Since  the  Bible  is  here  and  will  be 
when  we  are  gone,  what  shall  be  our  attitude 
toward  it? 

First,  we  will  maintain  the  right  temper  of  all 
truth-seekers,  openness  to  conviction  till  the 
whole  case  is  in,  and  ever  free  from  sneers  that 
betoken  a  little  mind,  ready  to  give  the  truth  the 
right  of  way  into  our  whole  lives  as  much  as  we 
do  the  law  of  gravitation  or  the  principle  of  di- 
gestion. In  doing  this  we  shall  have  gained  much 
as  honest  students.  Yoltaire's  worst  crime  against 
himself  was  the  sneer  that  was  so  perpetual  as  to 
make  it  impossible  for  him  to  know  or  judge  some 
kinds  of  truth.  The  great  king  who  knew  him 
best  most  fittingly  called  him  a  monkey.  We 
must  shun  all  roads  that  lead  to  such  ends.  We 
are  not  free  from  the  danger.  Some  men,  great 
in  many  respects,  become  partially  insane  the  mo- 
ment they  turn  to  what  they  please  to  call  fanati- 
cism. Draper  wrote  a  book  on  the  conflict  of  re- 
ligion and  science  whose  characteristics  would  have 
irreparably  disgraced  any  Christian  who  had  so 
written  of  science.  Huxley  is  not  free  from  such 
prejudice  against  Christianity  as  would  destroy  the 
reliability  of  his  testimony  in  a  police  court  in  a 


154  The  Bible: 

case  involving  ten  dollars.  Stanley  complains 
that  "  the  votaries  of  science  are  apt  to  feel  an  af- 
fection for  one's  bleached  skull  and  frame  of  un- 
sightly bones  more  than  for  what  is  divine  within 
a  man.  If  one  talks  of  the  inner  beauty,  which 
to  some  of  us  is  the  only  beauty  worth  anything, 
they  are  apt  to  yawn  or  return  a  compassionate 
smile.  They  seem  to  wish  you  to  infer  that  they 
have  explored  the  body  through  and  through,  and 
that  it  is  a  waste  of  time  to  discuss  what  exists 
only  in  the  imagination."  It  was  the  pasha's 
interest  and  ability  in  bugs,  and  imbecility  in  every- 
thing else,  that  led  the  great  explorer  to  say  this. 
The  difference  between  the  two  men  in  all  that 
makes  for  manhood  and  achievement  is  largely 
dependent  on  that  belief  in  divine  things  that  the 
entomologist  smiles  at  contemptuously,  and  that 
the  explorer  embraces  with  his  soul,  and  uses  to 
carry  him  through  the  greatest  toils,  trials,  and 
triumphs  of  our  age. 

Young  scientists  are  specially  liable  to  danger 
here.  They  are  students  of  the  seen  and  tangible. 
They  look  for  certainties  in  definite  ways.  The 
whole  department  of  the  unseen  may  escape  them. 
There  is  also  an  exuberance  of  youth  necessary  to 
great  achievement  that  should  not  be  perverted. 
Often,  "  as  soon  as  a  young  scientist  is  able  to 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Necessary.    155 

distinguish  the  horns  of  a  beetle  from  the  feelers 
of  a  wasp,  he  begins  to  patronize  the  Almighty." 
The  assumptions  of  omniscience  on  the  part  of 
scientific  scribblers  would  be  ludicrous  if  it  were 
not  blasphemous.  Let  the  shoemaker  stick  to  his 
last.  It  is  said  that  any  Japanese  is  so  self-confident 
that  he  would  not  hesitate  to  take  command  of  a 
man-of-war,  even  if  he  had  never  seen  one  before. 
We  had  an  example  of  this  gigantic  presumption, 
that  dares  to  rush  where  angels  fear  to  tread,  when 
men  who  never  set  a  squadron  in  the  field,  much 
less  themselves,  undertook  to  manage  a  gigantic 
w^r  by  newspaper.  Their  various  howls  and  de- 
mands cost  us  thousands  of  lives.  Scientists  are 
quick  enough  to  demand  "  hands  off  "  on  the  part 
of  theologians.  "  Hands  off  from  religion  on  the 
part  of  irreligious  men  "  is  a  just  retort. 

Why  should  knowledge  of  one  thing  argue 
knowledge  of  all  ?  "  The  flower  in  the  cranied 
wall "  may  lead  to  all  and  all  in  all,  but  one  may 
know  the  first  when  he  sees  it  and  not  have  gone 
to  the  last.  Scientists  have  the  greatest  reason  of 
any  to  be  modest.  They  have  made  more  mistakes 
than  any  others,  and  mistakes  that  are  colossal.  It 
is  said  that  the  French  Institute  of  Science  has 
published  eighty  theories  of  geology,  everyone  of 
which  is  dead.     I  do  not  vouch  for  the  absolute 


156  The  Bible: 

accuracy  of  the  figures ;  some  transcriber  may  liave 
added  a  zero  to  tlie  eight  and  made  it  greater. 
But  there  is  a  sturdy,  immovable,  and  sufficient 
rock  of  truth  in  the  expression.  A  mistake  of  two 
hundred  millions  of  years  is  not  strange  to  science. 
But  thiit  is  nothing.  Guessing  is  not  an  exact 
science.  In  many  things  we  guess  at  half  and 
multiply  by  two,  and  call  it  exact,  because  the  last 
process  is  demonstrably  so.  It  is  a  credit  to  man 
that  he  can  blunder  so  sublimely.  It  testifies  to 
his  largeness,  and  specially  to  nature's  largeness, 
because  his  largeness  can  therein  blunder  so  im- 
measurably. 

There  is  a  presumption  in  favor  of  the  truth  of 
the  Bible,  and  the  Christianity  derived  therefrom, 
because  it  has  been  and  is  believed  by  millions  of 
men  as  earnest,  reasonable,  and  well  endowed  as 
any  of  us.  They  have  looked  into  its  claims 
thoroughly  all  their  lives.  By  adding  these  lives 
together  w^e  shall  have  put  the  most  careful  in- 
vestigation for  thousands  of  years  upon  the  book, 
and  it  bears  the  study.  The  more  earnest  the 
study  the  more  clear  the  light.  Just  as  in  the 
study  of  this  w^orld,  the  better  the  instrument, 
the  more  thorough  the  search,  the  more  things  it 
finds  in  the  light ;  the  rainbow,  the  seven  colors, 
the  colors  invisible  above  and  below  the  spectrum ; 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Necessary.   157 

it  detects  the  yibration,  hears  the  music,  enjoys  the 
sanitary  effect,  watches  it  create  the  flower  out  of 
dust,  and  finds  the  very  substance  of  worlds  not 
seen.  And,  blessed  be  God,  study  of  the  Bible 
finds  that  it  is  the  true  light  that  lighteth  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  world. 

The  Bible  is  not  meekly  held  to  be  true  because 
it  has  never  been  assailed.  Every  weapon  in  the 
arsenals  of  thought  has  been  tried  uj)on  it,  and 
many  that  had  no  thought.  Yoltaire,  Ingersoll, 
et  id  omne  genus,  tried  the  Chinese  style  of  war- 
fare, a  fanfare  of  tomtoms  and  guffaws.  But 
Gibraltars  are  not  taken  in  that  way.  And  when 
the  sneers  and  ideals  of  Yoltaire's  life  culminated 
in  the  unnamable  atrocities  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion men  went  back  to  the  Bible  and  its  ideals  with 
a  gasping  shudder  that  they  might  not  get  them 
again  before  all  was  lost.  Huxley  is  now  trying 
on  it  what  he  calls  his  weapons  of  precision.  He 
tries  to  convict  the  Lord  of  the  "  misdemeanors 
of  an  evil  example."  He  fails  notably  and  igno- 
bly. If  he  brought  no  greater  precision  into 
science  he  would  not  be  a  tenth  rate  authority. 
No  weapon  formed  against  the  Bible  has  pros- 
pered. Its  shields  are  of  such  celestial  temper 
that  every  sword  edge  is  turned  and  every  spear  is 
blunted.     It  was  never  so  circulated,  expounded. 


158  The  Bible: 

believed,  loved,  and  built  into  lives  and  nations  as 
to-day. 

In  the  face  of  this  fact  there  are  men  who  claim 
that  the  battle  against  the  Bible  is  already  over  and 
won.  Karl  Pearson  says ;  "  I  set  out  from  the 
standpoint  that  the  mission  of  free  thought  is  no 
longer  to  batter  down  old  faiths.  That  has  long 
ago  been  effectively  accomplished,  and  I  for  one 
am  ready  to  put  the  railing  round  the  ruins  that 
they  may  be  preserved  from  desecration  and  serve 
as  a  landmark."  Somebody  is  found  to  make 
essentially  that  declaration  in  every  century  or 
oftener.  Yoltaire  gave  Christianity  a  generation 
in  which  to  die.  Ingersoll  gave  it  ten  years. 
Karl  Pearson  has  it  in  ruins  already.  Tliousands 
of  dogs  bark  at  the  full  moon  every  night,  but  the 
moon  goes  right  on  unscared. 

As  seekers  after  truth  we  will  agree  that  each 
department  shall  have  its  own  tests  and  standards 
of  truth.  We  will  not  insist  that  the  mathemati- 
cian shall  test  his  demonstrations  with  litmus  paper, 
nor  that  the  artist  shall  make  his  paintings  of  sunset 
beautiful  to  our  feeling  fingers  ;  nor  that  the  musi- 
cian shall  make  us  see  his  melodies  and  symphonies ; 
nor  that  our  hearts,  yearning  for  sympathy  and  re- 
sponse, shall  be  satisfied  with  a  chemical  analysis  of 
the  color  in  the  lips  of  our  beloved,  nor  by  the 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Kecessary.    159 


spectroscopic  investigation  of  the  light  in  her  eyes. 
There  are  other  tests  and  applications  much  more 
satisfactory.  The  reason  why  man  has  many 
faculties  differing  as  widely  as  the  exactitudes  of 
the  mathematician  from  the  imagination  of  the 
poet  is  because  there  are  many  fields  of  investiga- 
tion. Each  faculty  has  its  own  field.  Hence  it 
is  quite  possible  that  a  man  may  be  a  good  cloak- 
maker  and  a  very  poor  poet.  Pie  may  be  as  grand 
a  musician  as  Beethoven  and  not  know  enough  to 
cut  the  coupons  off  a  government  bond  to  meet  his 
physical  hungers.  Will  we  not  agree  that  the 
painter  shall  be  the  best  judge  of  painting ;  the 
sculptor  of  statuary ;  the  architect  of  the  Parthe- 
non ;  the  jurist  of  law ;  and  the  Christian  of  the 
adaptation  of  the  Bible  to  produce  a  holy  life? 
Moreover,  have  we  not  a  right  to  insist  that  criti- 
cism shall  not  be  merely  destructive?  Some 
artists  were  criticising  as  too  small  the  decorations 
that  were  being  put  on  a  noble  hall  in  Rome. 
Michael  Angelo  came  in,  and  they  asked  him  his 
opinion.  He  studied  and  was  silent,  but,  stepping 
to  the  wall,  sketched  a  head  of  such  magnificent 
proportions  that  everyone  cheered  as  he  saw  it 
was  just  adapted  to  the  place.  "I  criticise  by 
creation,"  he  said.  When  I  see  the  horde  of 
Goths   and   Huns   trying  to  ravage   the    fairest 


160  The  Bible: 

temples  of  thought  ever  built  on  the  earth,  I  wish 
some  of  them  would  try  their  hand  at  creation. 
This  is  what  we  will  insist  on,  that  Michael 
Angelo,  who  had  raised  the  Parthenon  in  air  in 
St.  Peter's  shall  be  our  most  revered  critic  in 
architecture,  and  that  the  good,  philanthropic, 
holiest  men  of  any  ^ge  shall  be  our  most  revered 
critics  in  religion. 

This  is  a  peril  of  our  age.  A  man  arrogant  in 
one  department  may  demand  that  all  others  shall 
be  submitted  to  his  tests.  La  Place  said,  "  In  my 
heaven  I  find  no  God ;  "  and  Lalande  wrote,  "  I 
have  peered  through  the  heavens  for  sixty  years 
and  have  never  seen  him  yet."  What  a  pity  that 
these  men  could  not  have  known  what  Carlyle 
afterward  so  aptly  phrased ;  there  are  "  actual 
matters  that  refuse  to  be  theoremed  or  dia- 
grammed which  logic  ought  to  know  that  she 
cannot  even  speak  of."  And  what  a  pity  that 
these  men  did  not  know  what  was  already  written 
by  one  as  eminent  in  religious  life  as  they  were  in 
astronomy  and  a  thousand  times  more  influential : 
"  Say  not  in  thine  heart,  "Who  shall  ascend  into 
heaven  ?  (that  is,  to  bring  Christ  down  from  above  :) 
or.  Who  shall  descend  into  the  deep  ?  (that  is,  to 
bring  up  Christ  again  from  the  dead.)  But  what 
saith  it  ?    The  word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth. 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Necessaky.   161 

and  in  tlij  heart."  "  In  him  we  live,  move,  and 
have  our  being,  for  we  are  his  offspring."  ^'  With 
the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness." 
Great  thanks,  sturdy  Carlyle.  We  repeat  one  of 
the  most  virile  phrases  that  ever  slid  from  your 
rugged  soul.  There  are  "actual  matters  whicJi 
logic  ought  to  know  she  has  no  right  to  speak  of." 
This  profound  philosophy  was  admirably  stated  by 
that  notable  philosopher  Paul :  "  The  natural 
man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God  : 
for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him  :  neither  can  he 
know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  [not  intel- 
lectually] discerned." 

We  will  try  to  remember  that  the  forces  we  call 
laws  are  latent  or  active,  masterful  or  mastered, 
according  to  circumstances  existent  at  the  time, 
or  the  ends  to  be  attained.  A  saturated  solution 
of  salt,  sugar,  or  a  hundred  other  substances  is 
quiet  and  homogeneous,  but  it  suddenly  springs 
into  crystals  and  water.  There  is  much  diamond 
stuff  and  substance  in  the  world.  And  if  the  cir- 
cumstances were  such  that  the  law  of  crystalli- 
zation could  be  brought  to  bear  every  man  could 
have  a  kohinoor.  So  in  treating  any  subject  we 
must  remember  that  there  are  more  things  in 
heaven  and  earth  than  are  dreamt  of  in  our  phi- 
losophy. We  will  remember  that  a  change  from 
11 


162  The  Bible: 

that  law  of  saturated  solution  to  that  of  crystal- 
lization may  occur  at  any  time.  Especially  in  ap- 
plying laws  of  the  lower  world  to  men  we  may 
look  for  surprises,  nay,  astonishments. 

For  instance,  no  law  of  the  natural  world  is 
better  established  than  that  of  natural  selection. 
By  it  the  strong  live  and  the  weak  perish,  and  the 
well  grow  stronger  and  stronger.  But  if  only 
that  law  were  to  prevail  we  should  have  a  race, 
strong  indeed,  giants,  maybe,  but  there  would  be 
no  stimulus  to  intellect,  and  no  life  of  love ;  men 
would  be  animals  only. 

IsTow  at  the  time  of  Christ  man's  physical  limit 
was  practically  reached,  and  his  intellectual  devel- 
opment had  come  to  a  point  that  needed  a  stimu- 
lus of  another  sort.  Hence  he  proclaimed  the 
law  of  love.  It  directly  contravenes  the  law  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest  in  a  physical  sense.  The 
weak  are  to  be  helped,  the  sick  nourished,  the  im- 
prisoned visited,  the  imbecile  cared  for,  the  poor 
to  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them,  l^atural 
selection  had  had  its  day.  The  dispensation  of 
supernatural  selection  had  come,  and  it  chose  the 
foolish  things  of  this  world  to  confound  the  wise, 
the  weak  things  to  confound  the  mighty,  and 
things  which  are  not  to  bring  to  naught  the  things 
that  are.     l^atural  selection  is  pushed  aside,  nay, 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Necessary.   163 

defied,  and  the  higher  law  overcomes  the  lower, 
just  because  it  is  supernatural  selection.  So,  see- 
ing a  man  learned  and  proud,  choosing  his  com- 
pany with  literati  and  rulers,  exceeding  mad 
against  the  Church,  persecuting  its  members  and 
haling  men  and  women  to  prison,  justifies  one  in 
inferring  that  this  law  of  habit  will  continue,  that 
this  selection  will  naturally  go  on.  But  when  he 
suddenly  changes  to  be  the  chiefest  apostle  of  the 
new  religion,  welcoming  the  persecution  himself, 
taking  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  his  goods  and 
choosing  the  lowly,  despised,  and  contemptible  in 
his  former  state,  we  are  obliged  to  say  a  new  law 
has  come  to  the  fore  as  much  higher  than  the  old 
as  the  supernatural  is  above  the  natural.  This 
may  be  so  in  every  life.  We  will  never  insist 
that  every  thought  shall  be  weighed  in  our  tiny 
scales,  every  glorious  feeling  be  caught  and  held 
in  our  retorts,  that  every  soul,  touched  into  more 
joy  at  sacrifice  than  indulgence,  and  sweeping  the 
majestic  curves  of  an  eternal  career,  shall  be  meas- 
urable by  our  puny  dividers.  !N^o,  no ;  we  will  be 
willing  that  God  shall  do  something  for  his  chil- 
dren above  what  they  can  ask  or  even  think. 

"We  set  this  self-evident  truth  against  the  declar- 
ation of  Mr.  Huxley,  "We  agnostics  deny  and 
repudiate  as  immoral  the  doctrine  that  there  are 


164  The  Bible: 

propositions  which  men  ought  to  believe  without 
logical,  scientific  evidence."  Just  what  he  means 
by  logical  and  scientific  we  do  not  know.  But  if 
he  uses  them  in  an  ordinarily  accepted  sense,  he  is 
as  wrong  as  the  old  astronomers  were  in  saying 
the  sun  went  round  the  world.  They  had  a 
greatly  trusted  evidence  of  the  fact,  but  it  was 
wrong.  Mr.  Huxley's  logical  and  scientific  stand- 
ard would  banish  the  whole  realm  of  morals  at 
one  fell  swoop,  would  destroy  the  whole  sphere  of 
affection  on  which  all  worth  living  for  hinges, 
and  annihilate  spiritual  life  which  is  life  eternal. 
These  are  certainties  clearer  than  light,  more  solid 
than  granite  which  has  dissolved  and  will  again. 
They  are  more  clearly  proved  to  millions  of  radi- 
ant souls  than  any  problem  in  geometry.  They 
are  so  demonstrable  and  demonstrated  that  they 
become  potential  in  determining  life.  Pleasure 
and  power  are  less  powerful  than  these  great 
actualities.  The  great  subcontinental  granite  of 
the  Christian  faith  is  as  certainly  aflirmed  as  any 
truth  of  material  science.  A  far  greater  aggregate 
of  intellect  and  illumination  of  conscience  knows 
its  facts  to-day  than  that  which  knows  the  theory  of 
the  tides.  The  life  of  scientific  theory  is  ephemeral ; 
the  life  of  Christian  certainties  as  durable  as  man. 
Mr.  Darwin  makes  a  candid  admission  of  the 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Kecessary.   165 

possible  death,  through  disuse,  of  the  mental  organs 
on  which  our  higher  tastes  depend.  He  does  not 
specifically  mention  our  organs  of  religious  knowl- 
edge. But  he  struck  a  lofty  truth.  To  train  fac- 
ulties is  to  develop  them.  To  neglect  them  is  to 
make  them  perish.  An  alchemist  or  astrologer 
may  be  so  absorbed  in  retorts  and  astrolobes  as  to 
let  every  tie  of  human  affection  perish ;  a  miser  be 
so  possessed  with  the  accursed  hunger  for  gold 
that  he  will  care  nothing  for  countiy ;  and  there 
have  been  men  who  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in 
their  knowledge  and  had  to  be  given  over  to  a 
reprobate  mind,  to  do  the  unnamable  things  of  a 
perishing  heathen  world.  To  avoid  this  we  must 
apply  these  various  faculties  to  appropriate  fields ; 
eyes  to  color  and  form,  ears  to  the  resounding  of 
the  sea,  imagination  to  poetry,  logic  to  mathematics, 
heart  to  religion.  "With  the  heart  man  believetli 
unto  his  own  righteousness. 

"We  will  also  observe  a  due  regard  to  the  royal 
order  and  value  of  the  different  faculties.  Some 
are  required  for  mere  existence,  some  related  to 
perceiving  relations  of  things  and  ideas,  some  es- 
sential to  enjoying  the  ecstacy  of  love,  and  some 
necessary  to  knowing  God.  Whosoever  would  be 
a  great  man  must  have  all  in  full  play.  Great  is  it 
to  exist  with  the  possibilities  of  physical  manhood. 


166  The  Bible  : 

greater  to  traverse  the  realm  of  ideas,  but  greatest 
to  know  the  source  of  all  worlds,  laws,  ideas,  and 
loves,  for  God  is  love. 

You  will  expect  me  to  say  something  about  the 
much  vaunted  higher  criticism  of  the  Bible  just 
now  in  vogue.  I  am  anxious  to  do  so.  It  is  so 
grossly  misrepresented  in  its  designs  and  achieve- 
ments that  one  easily  believes  the  old  Bible  esti- 
mate of  man  before  the  flood,' that  "every  imag- 
ination of  the  thought  of  his  heart  was  only  evil 
continually." 

A  paper  calling  itself  the  Christian  Register, 
the  chief  Unitarian  organ  in  the  United  States, 
says  that  Thomas  Paine,  "  though  stigmatized  and 
set  aside  as  an  infidel,  finds  reincarnation  in  the 
modern  scientific  biblical  critic."  If  he  does  I  am 
sorry  for  the  critics  and  the  Register,  for  Paine 
was  vituperative  and  blasphemous.  This  is  not 
the  spirit  of  an  earnest  seeker  of  the  truth.  It  is 
prohibitive  of  finding  the  truth. 

Now  what  are  the  facts  ?  First,  tlie  Bible  invites 
the  highest  criticism  that  can  be  applied.  Its  stand- 
ing invitation  is,  "  Come  now,  let  us  reason  togeth- 
er." It  sadly  declares,  "  My  people  are  destroyed 
for  lack  of  knowledge."  And  its  constant  response 
to  every  Nathaniel,  skeptical  whether  any  good 
can  come  out  of  Nazareth,  is,  "  Come  and  see." 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Necessary.   167 

Second,  that  is  just  what  the  students  of  the 
Bible  have  been  doing  for  eighteen  centuries.  They 
have  organized  and  worked  five  whole  depart- 
ments of  criticism — textual,  historical,  archseolog- 
ical,  philosophical,  and  experimental.  This  last, 
the  most  practical,  the  hostile  critics  never  try. 
The  Bible  of  to-day  is  immensely  more  credible 
and  potent  for  this  continued  critical  record.  The 
enemies  of  the  Bible  have  discovered  nothing  new. 
The  scholar  hears  the  outcry  and  the  exultant  shout 
that  the  Bible  was  overturned,  and,  drawing  near  to 
hear  the  new  discovery,  finds  it  is  only  the  itera- 
tion of  something  well  known  before,  or  some  new 
thing  that  is  false.  We  well  remember  how  every 
secular  paper  in  the  land  lately  declared  that  the 
Revised  Version  had  taken  hell  out  of  the  Bible, 
a  statement  so  false  that  the  wish  must  have  been 
father  of  the  thought. 

Now  what  does  this  higher  criticism  claim  to 
have  discovered?  Among  other  things  that  Moses 
did  not  write  all  the  Pentateuch,  including  the 
account  of  his  own  death  and  burial ;  that  the 
old  covenant,  improperly  called  a  testament,  was 
preliminary,  incomplete,  and  in  some  cases  faulty. 
Certainl}'.  So  the  New  Testament  declares,  and 
says  these  concessions  were  made  to  the  weakness 
of  undeveloped    human    nature;    and    the  new 


168  The  Bible: 

covenant  declares  that  if  the  first  had  been  fault- 
less then  should  no  place  have  been  sought  for  the 
second.  But  why  the  new  outcry  ?  These  things 
have  been  stated  by  "Wesley,  Clarke,  and  all  the 
great  scholars.  What  of  it  ?  Are  not  primers  and 
spellers  necessary  to  the  infancy  of  the  race  as 
well  as  the  infancy  of  individuals  ?  Have  these 
things  affected  the  Christian  scholars  or  the  be- 
lieving people  ?  No  more  than  earthly  dust  pre- 
vents men  from  believing  in  the  sun.  The  learn- 
ing, manhood,  conscience,  devotion  of  self  and 
means  to  the  Bible  was  never  so  great  as  now. 
There  have  been  a  hundred  battles,  and  if  the  Old 
Testament  was  destroyed  as  a  religious  authority  in 
the  first  battle,  why  the  second  ?  If  in  all  up  to 
the  ninety-ninth,  why  the  one  hundredth  ?  Every 
fresh  attack  is  a  confession  that  all  the  previous 
ones  failed.  We  always  knew  that  Julian  was 
more  than  met  by  Porphyry,  Hobbs  by  Cudworth, 
Bolingbroke,  Shaftesbury,  Collins,  and  Voltaire  by 
Stillingfleet  and  Butler,  Paine  and  Watson; 
modern  geologists  by  a  greater  geologist,  Dana ; 
Huxley  by  Bowne.  Every  time  we  see  the  hosts 
gather  for  a  new  assault  we  exult  and  sing; 

"Zion  stands  by  Mils  surrounded, 
Zion,  kept  by  power  divine : 

All  her  foes  shall  be  confounded, 
Though  the  world  in  arms  combine." 


Ceiticism,  Legitimate  and  IS'ecessaky.   169 

But  the  assault  on  the  New  Testament  is  of  a 
more  serious  character.     They  mean  to  discredit 
the  whole  volume  and  destroy  its  authority  by 
trying  to  show  that  the  'New  Testament  is  a  mis- 
cellaneous collection  of  disjointed  writings  made 
with  no  thought  of  association,  but  gathered  by 
uncritical,   ill-informed,    perhaps    immoral    men. 
They  set  out  with  a  statement  that  miracles  are 
impossible  under  the  laws  of  the  universe.     Baur 
of  Tubingen  says  :  "  Above  all  thing  we  must  in- 
sist upon  an   entirely    untrammeled  judgment,  a 
freedom  from  dogmatic  presuppositions,  and  a  re- 
jection of  miracles  as  impossible."     That  is  lucid 
and  frank.     We  insist  on  an  entirely  untrammeled 
judgment,   except  that  miracles   are    impossible ; 
we  insist  on  freedom  from  dogmatic  presupposi- 
tions, except  the  presupposition  that  miracles  are 
impossible.    "We  insist  on  clear  vision  and  proceed 
at  once  to  immerse  our  heads  in  mud.     They  de- 
clare that  the  writings  are  full  of  discrepancies  and 
mistakes.     They  will  not  accept  more  than  four 
epistles  as  genuinely  written  by  St.  Paul,  and  they 
claim  to  account  for  the  whole  development  of 
Christ  and  his  religion  by  the  Jewish  spirit,  the 
effect   of    scenery,    E"azarene  surroundings,    and 
visions  and  dreams  induced  by  religious  excite- 
ment.    The  wonder  is  that  scenery  and  Nazarene 


170  The  Bible: 

surroundings  have  not  produced  other  Christs.  In 
studying  the  words  of  an  epistle  they  compare  one 
part  with  another,  and  affirm  that  the  last  part 
could  not  have  been  written  by  the  author  of  the 
first  part,  because  the  words,  style,  and  ideas  are 
difierent.  So  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  could 
not  have  been  written  by  the  author  of  the  one  to 
the  Komans  because  the  character  of  Christ  is 
treated  with  a  more  majestic  sweetness  in  Ephe- 
sians than  in  Romans. 

I  wish  to  emphatically  declare  that  the  methods 
of  this  so-called  higher  criticism  applied  to  any 
writings  would  discredit  their  genuineness.  It  is 
higher  criticism  applied  to  Shakespeare  that  has 
produced  the  idiotic  assertion  that  his  works  were 
written  by  Lord  Bacon.  The  laws  of  historical 
criticism  applied  to  Napoleon  have  proved  that  no 
such  man  ever  lived.  The  same  treatment  applied 
to  this  lecture  would  show  that  I  never  wrote  it — 
a  man  usually  so  kindly  never  could  have  in- 
dulged in  such  sarcasm,  or  written  things  so  bel- 
ligerent; applied  to  a  letter  from  a  husband 
would  show  that  no  one  person  ever  M^'ote  it  all. 
Notice  now  clear  the  demonstration  is.  The  first 
part  is  terse,  businesslike,  deals  with  railroads, 
times  of  departure  and  arrival,  questions  of  health, 
sleep,  etc.     You  therein  see   the  man's  turn  of 


Ceiticism,  Legitimate  and  [N'ecessary.   171 

mind.  He  is  practical,  solid,  exact,  unemotional. 
But  the  last  of  the  letter  is  by  some  one  else,  and 
altogether  different.  It  is  affectionate,  poetic,  out- 
rageously exaggerative ;  talks  like  a  lover  of  an  im- 
possible number  of  kisses ;  says  he  cannot  bear  to 
be  away,  when  evidently  he  does  bear  it  or  else 
how  would  he  live  to  write  it  ?  You  see  clearly 
that  two  men  wrote  the  letter,  one  a  lover  and  the 
other  only  a  husband.  Ah,  some  women  know  it 
is  possible  to  have  a  husband  and  a  lover  in  one 
man.  But  to  critics  every  man  is  wooden  ;  in 
great  variety  it  is  true ;  some  of  heart  wood  and 
some  of  sap  wood ;  some  of  pine,  easy  to  flash 
into  flame ;  some  of  oak ;  some  of  mahogany,  and 
some  of  upas.  But  they  never  mix  woods.  That 
is  not  our  idea  of  man.  He  is  complex  ;  a  lover 
and  a  mathematician  in  one  ;  a  poet  and  a  man  of 
business,  like  Tennyson  ;  a  warrior  and  a  statesman, 
like  Washington;  a  hard  fighter  and  deeply  re- 
ligious, like  Stonewall  Jackson;  nay,  a  little,  a 
great  deal  of  all  in  every  ideal  man.  Then,  too, 
these  critics  allow  no  man  to  have  a  different 
purpose  at  different  times.  We  think  at  one  time 
a  man  might  expound  the  law  to  the  Romans,  and 
four  years  after  might  expound  grace  to  the 
Ephesians.  They  allow  no  room  for  a  man  to 
grow  in  the   knowledge  and  love  of  God.     The 


172  The  Bible: 

stupendous  views  of  Christ,  and  of  the  possible 
glory  of  man,  highest  in  language  or  thought,  may 
have  come  to  Paul  in  the  interval  after  Romans 
was  written.  Christians  believe  in  growth  as 
rapid  and  a  revelation  as  lofty  as  that  in  one  who 
goes  on  from  grace  to  grace  and  glory  to  glory. 

Finally,  in  regard  to  the  New  Testament,  so  long 
under  fire,  it  cannot  be  said  that  at  any  point  it  is 
perceptibly  -weakened  ;  that  any  man's  faith  need 
in  the  least  be  shaken,  or  man's  life  be  turned  from 
its  loftiest  ideals. 

And  in  regard  to  the  whole  Bible.  Gladstone 
has  just  been  over  the  whole  matter  with  his 
matured  powers.  He  sees  "  no  ground  for  fear 
that  the  Bible  is  discredited,  its  teaching  or 
authority  discounted."  We  sum  up  the  case  in 
the  words  of  the  late  Edward  Cowley,  D.D.  :  '•  In 
the  review  of  the  entire  Old  Testament  battlefield 
liberal  orthodoxy  holds  the  fort.  All  that  Hebrew 
patriarch  or  seer  have  voiced  touching  divine 
covenant,  and  an  inspired  record  of  vision  and 
teaching  which  the  critics  have  tried  to  eliminate 
or  destroy,  stands  intact  at  this  hour.  Not  one  iota 
of  essential  text,  in  relation  to  God  in  creation,  to 
God  in  converse  with  Noah,  in  covenant  with 
Abraham  and  Israel,  has  been  weakened  by  the 
encounter ;    but  every  promise   from    Eden    to 


Criticism,  Legitimate  and  Kecessary.    173 

Olivet  has  been  realized  or  is  being  fulfilled.     The 
covenant  word  remains  unweakened." 

Higher  criticism;  self-named,  has  often  vaunted  its 
victories,  gloried  in  taking  the  light  out  of  our  sky, 
hope  out  of  our  hearts,  authority  out  of  the  Bible, 
and  God  out  of  our  world.  Then  the  highest 
criticism  came  to  the  front,  and,  as  President 
Fairbairn  says,  gave  us  back  our  Bible. 

God's  cause  in  the  person  of  his  people  once 
stood  beside  the  sea.  Behind  them  raged  their 
bitter  foes.  They  exulted,  saying  :  ^'  I  will  pursue, 
I  will  overtake,  I  will  divide  the  spoil.  My  lust 
shall  be  satisfied  upon  them.  I  will  draw  my 
sword.  My  hand  shall  destroy  them."  But  in  a 
few  hours  this  fearful  people  were  shouting  de- 
liverance on  the  farther  shore  and  the  Egyptian 
host  had  become  dead  corpses  tumbled  by  the  rush 
of  the  heaped  up  waters.  History  repeats  itself. 
God's  cause  as  represented  by  an  idea  has  often 
gone  out  of  slavery — come  down  to  the  Red  Sea 
and  looked  over  to  a  land  of  blessed  liberty. 
Egyptians  have  risen  up  behind  and  cried  out :  "  I 
will  pursue,  I  will  destroy."  In  a  few  hours,  as 
God's  time  goes,  that  idea  was  resplendent  in 
victory  on  the  other  side,  and  the  rapacious 
pursuers  were  all  like  Pharaoh's  host.  Since  there 
was  one  deliverance  why  not  many  ?    God's  ear  is 


174  The  Bible. 

not  heavy  that    he   cannot  hear,    nor    his    arm 
shortened  that  he  cannot  save. 

Of  the  things  written  this  is  the  sum.  The 
Bible  has  often  been  assaulted  with  all  the  ardor, 
learning,  and  incentives  the  human  intellect  could 
command.  This  was  natural,  necessary,  and 
greatly  to  be  welcomed.  Of  all  the  Ehrenbreit- 
steins  and  Gibraltars  in  the  world  this  is  the  only 
one  that  has  never  been  taken.  After  a  siege  of 
thirty-four  hundred  years  since  the  assaults  of  the 
magicians  of  Egypt  we  are  coming  to  feel  pretty 
secure.  We  sit  behind  the  as  yet  impregnable 
ramparts  and  smile  at  all  our  foes.  J^ay,  more, 
and  far  more  important,  we  keep  ourselves  open- 
eyed  to  the  truth,  knowing  that  the  truth  shall  make 
us  free ;  open-minded  to  these  loftiest  ideals  in 
existence  and  the  accompanying  help  that  is  offered 
for  their  attainment ;  and,  most  of  all,  open- 
hearted  to  that  blessed  love  that  flows  through 
these  pages  to  our  hearts  for  ever  and  ever. 


VII. 

THE    BIBLE:    ITS  VERBAL 

FELICITIES  AND 

INTENSITIES. 


SYLLABUS. 


VII.  SUBJECT— The  Verbal  Felicities  and  Intensi- 
ties OF  THE  Bible. 

Ideas  and  their  elect  expression  conquer  men. 

Demosthenes.      Best  speakers   often   finish   sentences  better  than  our 

anticipative  thought. 

The  Bible  has  largest  ideas  and  best  expression. 

Else  scholars  would  not  study  it  by  the  millennia.  It  expresses  best 
sentiments  better  than  other  writings.  Proverbs.  Ruth's  statement 
of  attachment,  etc. 

New  meanings  are  constantly  revealed  to  the  student. 

This  was  promised  by  Christ.     Instances.     The  missionary  idea. 

Intensities  of  expression. 

Never  equal  to  the  intensities  of  thought.  In  the  third  heaven  Paul 
saw  things  impossible  to  put  into  words.  Co-buried,  co-risen,  co- 
quickened. 

Meanings  philosophically  changed  and  fixed. 
Life.    The  Word. 

Large  ideas  and  felicitous  expression  become  poetry. 

Poetry  is  the  essence  of  things  ;  all  possible  development  of  latent  powers 
and  all  perfectness.  In  the  Bible  as  nowhere  else.  Having  the  Bible 
no  man  lacks  for  poetry. 

The  parable  :  infinite  meanings  attached  to  comtnon  things. 
Unique,  inimitable. 

How  account  for  the  speech  of  peasants  ages  ago  being  the  joy  of  scholars 
to-day  ? 

Holy  men  of  old  wrote  as  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.     Amen. 


VII. 

THE  BIBLE: 
ITS  VERBAL  FELICITIES  AND  INTENSITIES. 

EVERY  child  of  God  is  a  king  and  has  a 
kingdom.  He  was  made  to  have  dominion, 
and  in  his  mind  is  the  realm  of  his  undisputed 
sway.  Every  man  may  be  more  than  Saladin  the 
Magnificent. 

But  the  most  kingly  act  is  not  to  dominate,  but 
to  yield.  It  is  then  seen  that  authority  and  do- 
minion extend  not  only  to  empire,  but  to  self.  There 
are  conquerors  of  mind.  They  come  in  such 
lordly  mien  and  power  that  we  open  our  gates, 
nay,  take  down  our  walls,  and  gladly  give  them  the 
freedom  of  the  kingdom.  The  more  we  are  con- 
quered by  such  men  the  more  we  are  honored, 
because  such  conquerors  only  come  to  give:  all 
they  bring  is  ours.  The  more  lordly  they,  the 
greater  we.  Greece  conquered  to  enslave,  Rome 
to  give  military  discipline,  roads,  architecture, 
laws,  Roman  freedom,  and  citizenship.  Roman 
conquest  was  immeasurably  better  than  barbarian 

independence. 
12 


178  The  Bible: 

So  in  the  kingdom  of  mind.  The  more  Mil- 
tons,  Bacons,  Lockes,  and  Pauls  roll  their  victo- 
rious chariots  and  blow  their  trumpets  of  victory 
over  our  kingdoms,  the  more  imperial,  imperious, 
and  peerless  are  we. 

In  physical  empires  force  meets  force.  When 
Achilles  and  Hector  meet  physical  strength  labors 
and  groans  to  make  one  iron  strike  another  harder. 
But  in  mental  kingdoms  ideals  rule.  When  the 
Queen  of  Sheba  comes  before  Solomon  the  beauty 
of  wisdom  makes  a  glad  captive  of  the  royal 
beauty  of  the  queen.  By  what  means  ?  By  ideas 
and  their  expression.  You  go  up  to  the  Pnyx  at 
Athens  an  independent  sovereign.  Will  Demos- 
thenes conquer  you  ?  He  begins.  He  makes  the 
very  soil  dearer,  the  sea  brighter,  the  mountains 
higher,  history  more  heroic,  events  more  signifi- 
cant, prophecy  more  brilliant,  wrong  more  out- 
rageous, tyranny  more  odious,  liberty  more  glo- 
rious. In  the  great  ocean  swell  of  the  full  tide  of 
his  power  he  pours  into  every  inlet  of  your  being. 
He  surges  into  every  bay,  fiord,  and  river  with 
rushing  wave  on  wave  with  resistless  might  till 
you  are  rapturously  swept  off  your  feet  and  ecstat- 
ically give  yourself  up  to  heighten  his  triumph, 
as  in  full  surrender  you  proffer  every  worth  and 
power  of  your  being  to  further  his  ends,  and  cry, 


Its  Yerbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    179 

Lead  us  against  Philip !  All  this  conquest  and 
exaltation  of  the  conquered  has  been  broup-ht 
about  by  fit  ideas  fitly  expressed. 

How  different  it  sometimes  is.  A  man  comes 
and  seeks  to  exercise  dominion  over  our  minds.  It 
is  soon  evident  that  he  has  not,  like  Solomon,  re- 
ceived a  revelation  of  wisdom  to  rule,  but,  hke 
Rehoboam,  has  filled  his  hands  with  scorpions  to 
chastise.  Horizons  of  thought  soon  narrow,  the 
uplifted  throne  soon  sinks  to  a  level,  then  into  a 
pit,  light  vanishes,  night  comes,  and  sleep  is  a 
blessed  refuge. 

You  know  how  the  hearer's  mind  often  outruns 
the  speaker's  speech.  I  remember  hearing  Spur- 
geon  on  one  occasion  of  many,  with  this  result : 
Every  time  my  anticipative  thought  would  close  a 
sentence  in  a  satisfactory  way  his  after  speech 
would  close  it  in  a  better — my  thought  was  silver, 
his  was  gold  or  diamond.  Every  speaker  should 
go  up  to  the  Pnyx,  or  Mars'  Hill,  or  the  horns  of 
Hatin  for  a  sermon  on  the  mount,  or  Olivet,  or, 
highest  of  all,  Calvary,  and  widen  men's  horizons, 
lengthen  perishing  times  to  as  much  of  eternity  as 
we  can  grasp,  see  the  King  in  his  beauty,  and 
subdue  in  order  to  exalt ! 

Without  controversy  the  Bible  in  the  matter  of 
ideas  and  feelings  is  peerless.     There  may  be  stars 


180  The  Bible: 

and  possibly  moons  of  revelation  shining  into 
man's  darkness  from  various  races,  ages,  and  minds 
of  fellow-men.  But  the  Bible  is  the  onlj  sun.  It 
gives  a  light  to  every  age ;  it  gives  but  borrows 
none.     Moons  are  possible  only  because  of  it. 

But  besides  ideas  has  it  apt  and  elect  expression  ? 
Did  the  herd  men,  peasants,  and  fishermen  so  write 
as  to  command  the  approval  of  scholars  ?  Is  there 
exactness,  intensity,  clarity,  and  beauty  in  their 
writing  ?  "When  our  trained  minds  anticipate  good 
fitting  words  do  these  men  disappoint  us,  or  sur- 
prise us  with  better?  "When  we  grope  with  a 
candle  do  they  turn  on  an  electric  light  ?  Does 
not  the  asking  answer  ?  Why  else  have  the  keen- 
est scholars  bent  over  these  pages  for  millennia? 
Such  mining  must  yield  gems  that  outsparkle  Gol- 
conda,  or  it  would  stop.  It  must  be  that  this  book, 
thousands  of  years  old,  has  verbal  delicacies,  accu- 
racies, and  intensities,  else  the  loving  labor  of 
hundreds  of  diligent  students  would  cease. 

I  do  not  now  refer  to  its  statements  of  doctrines 
and  systems  of  philosophy,  but  to  those  apt  ex- 
pressions "whereby  genius  makes  its  parentheses 
richer  than  ordinary  men's  paragraphs  and  vol- 
umes. Its  words  are  always  sweeter  than  honey 
and  the  honeycomb ;  they  are  apples  of  gold  in 
pictures  of  silver.     A  great  student  of  literature 


Its  Verbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    181 

once    challenged  a   company  of  scliolars  to  give 

from  the  language  of  any  nation  an  apt  expression 

of  thought,  and  he  would  give  a  better  expression 

of  the  same  idea  from  the  Bible.     The  company 

agreed  that  he  was  victor  in  the  contest.     Let  us 

think  of  a  few  for   ourselves.      Try   Tennyson's 

"  Better  fifty  years  of  Europe 
Than  a  cycle  of  Cathay." 

It  is  only  a  faint  and  far  reverberation  of  the 
eighty-fourth  Psalm,  "  For  a  day  in  thy  courts  is 
better  than  a  thousand.  I  had  rather  be  a  door- 
keeper in  the  house  of  my  God  than  to  dwell  in 
the  tents  of  wickedness." 

So  in  the  matter  of  proverbs  those  sententious 
compressions  of  wisdom  that  have  been  minted  and 
pass  current  in  all  nations.  To  say,  '*  Once  a  fool 
always  a  fool,"  is  as  strong  as  we  dare  put  it.  But 
the  Bible  sees  such  folly  in  sin  that  it  says, 
"  Though  thou  shouldest  bray  a  fool  in  a  mortar 
among  wheat  with  a  pestle,  yet  will  not  his  fool- 
ishness depart  from  him." 

You  remember  that  Franklin  read  the  Book  of 
Kuth  to  a  company  of  literati  in  France,  and  they 
begged  to  know  where  such  a  matchless  idyl  could 
be  found.  Many  have  been  the  expressions  of 
attachment  that  have  become  historic.  But  what 
equals  the  expression  of  the  heathen  woman  Ruth 


182  The  Bible: 

to  the  Jewish  mother  Naomi?  Her  sister  had 
gone  back ;  her  home,  coimtry,  and  kindred  were 
behind ;  and  Naomi  begged  her  to  depart ;  but  she 
said,  "  Intreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or  to  return 
from  following  after  thee :  for  whither  thou  goest, 
I  will  go  ;  and  where  thou  homest,  I  will  home ; 
thj  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my 
God  :  where  thou  diest,  will  I  die,  and  there  will 
I  be  buried :  the  Lord  do  so  to  me,  and  more 
also,  if  aught  but  death  part  thee  and  me."  I  do  not 
wonder  that  the  Lord  put  that  kind  of  a  w^oman 
into  the  line  of  which  he  himself  would  be  born. 

It  is  the  delight  of  close  scholars  to  pore  over 
the  divine  word  for  the  new  meanings  that  con- 
stantly flash  upon  them.  These  depths  of  wdsdom 
and  exquisite  touches  of  tenderness  frequently 
break  out  upon  us  like  a  sunrise.  This  w\as  prom- 
ised by  Christ  through  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

A  thousand  times  have  we  read,  "  Talitha  cumi " 
• — "Damsel,  I  say  unto  thee,  arise."  But  closer 
study  shows  a  touch  of  tenderness,  as  if  a  bonnie 
Scotsman  had  said,  "  My  wee  lassie,  come  now." 
We  do  not  wonder  that  voice  of  tender  love  found 
her  so  suasively  that  she  sat  up.  So  we  have  read 
that  the  father  of  the  prodigal  said  to  the  com- 
plaining elder  brother,  "  Son."  But  the  scholar 
sees  that  the  father  still  regards  him  as  his  little 


Its  Yerbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    183 

darling,  his  firstborn.  The  huge  form  of  man- 
hood, bewhiskered,  and  rugged  with  toil,  does  not 
keep  down  the  pet  name  of  affection,  and  he  says, 
"  My  dear  little  laddie,  thou  art  ever  with  me,  and 
all  that  I  have  is  thine."  No  wonder  he  was  rec- 
onciled at  once. 

Everybody  has  read  that  Jesus,  having  loved  his 
own,  loved  them  to  the  end — that  is,  of  his  life. 
But  the  scholar  reads  that  he  loves  them  to  the 
end  of  all  the  ages,  or  loved  them  to  the  uttermost 
of  his  nature.  That  is  a  boundless  ocean  rolling 
with  power  and  ecstacy,  and  he  says : 

**  There  I  shall  bathe  my  weary  soul 

In  seas  of  heavenly  rest, 
And  not  a  wave  of  trouble  roll 

Across  my  peaceful  breast." 

Many  have  read,  "  Come  unto  me,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest."  But  how  differently  reads  the 
scholar :  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  are  weary 
and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  rest  you."  It  is  not 
something  he  reaches  out  and  gives,  but  some- 
thing he  does  himself.  He  rests,  he  recreates. 
The  weary  one  feels  in  all  his  muscles  the  recreative 
fingers  of  the  Creator. 

There  is  often  a  suggestion  in  the  common  use 
of  words.  Take  Paul's,  "  I  am  now  ready  to  be 
offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand." 


184  The  Bible: 

But  he  says  the  time  of  my  casting  off  the  cables 
and  putting  to  sea  is  at  hand.  That  one  word 
suggests  friends  about  the  going  vessel.  It  makes 
death  a  voyage  into  an  unknown  country,  rich 
with  new  scenes ;  and  reunion  with  the  friends  left 
behind  is  very  joyfully  anticipated.  That  is  a 
figure  worthy  of  the  wide-sailing  missionary.  Try 
another  of  his  expressions,  *'Most  gladly  will  I 
rather  glory  in  my  infirmities  that  the  power  of 
Christ  may  rest  upon  me."  Read  closer  and  it  be- 
comes that  the  power  of  Christ  may  cover  me  like 
a  tent,  may  tabernacle  me  over,  making  a  shield 
from  that  without  and  a  burning  glory  within. 
That  is  a  figure  for  an  old  tentmaker  to  relish. 

Just  a  few  sentences  from  this  last  one  is  a 
translation  that  for  alliterative  beauty,  rhythm  of 
balanced  clauses,  cannot  be  surpassed.  Paul  has 
been  giving  the  great  proofs  of  his  apostleship  by 
the  third  heaven  visions,  when  he  unconsciously 
gives  a  greater  proof  by  the  revelation  of  his  spirit. 
Some  of  the  Corinthians  had  slandered  the  apostle 
and  accused  him  of  meanness,  and  he  says,  "  I  will 
very  gladly  spend  and  be  spent  for  you ;  though 
the  more  abundantly  I  love  you  the  less  I  be 
loved."  Translation  certainly  can  give  no  better 
rendering,  but  a  little  study  may  intensify  a  point 
or  two.    "  Be  spent "  means  "  used  up,  utterly  con- 


Its  Verbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    186 

siuned,"  and  the  position  of  the  "  though  "  tells  us 
that  this  being  used  up  is  not  in  consequence  of 
the  labors,  but  in  consequence  of  being  loved  less. 
IN^otwithstanding  your  slanders  I  will  very  gladly 
spend  and  be  utterly  used  up,  your  little  love 
breaking  my  heart,  while  I  love  you  more  abun- 
dantly. 

There  are  certain  intensities  of  meaning  the 
cursory  reader  does  not  catch.  We  never  trans- 
late the  Scripture  too  strongly  when  it  treats  of 
God's  thoughts  and  ways,  for  they  are  as  high 
above  ours  as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth. 
There  are  a  thousand  things  written  in  the  Scrip- 
tures we  do  not  yet  know  enough  to  apprehend, 
much  less  to  translate  or  even  to  believe  to  be  true. 
The  Bible  is  full  of  the  strongest  expressions  ever 
written.  It  takes  all  the  vigor  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage and  reinforces  it  with  intensive  particles. 
When  we  read, "  Comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is 
the  breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and  height,  and 
to  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which  passeth  knowl- 
edge," we  should  read,  "  Thoroughly  comprehend." 

We  have  all  read,  '^And  hope  maketli  not 
ashamed;  because  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  given 
unto  us."  It  is  nearer  the  great  intensity  of  the 
Scriptures  to  read,  ^'  And  hope  does  not  shame  by 


186  The  Bible: 

causing  to  be  deceived;  because  God's  love  has 
been,  and  continues  to  be,  poured  out  like  a  river 
tliroughout  our  hearts  by  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  who  was  given  unto  us." 

In  the  New  Testament  one  constantly  meets  a 
compound  verb  that  is  rendered  "  together  with." 
It  is  better  to  say  "  co ; "  as  co-buried,  co-risen,  co- 
quickened.  It  gives  one  a  right  with  great  awe 
and  love  to  put  himself  into  the  firm  Jesus  Christ 
&Co. 

There  is  often  a  close-jointed  use  of  connective 
particles  that  is  a  great  joy  to  an  accurate  scholar. 
Our  English  version  often  loses  the  close  logical 
force  of  these  connectives.  We  read  of  Christ 
saying,  "  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that 
sent  me."  It  was  said,  "  My  meat  is  in  order  to 
do  the  will."  I  support  life  not  for  its  own  joy 
and  comfort,  but  in  order  that  I  may  do  the  will. 

Again,  "  The  hour  is  come  that  the  Son  of  man 
should  be  glorified."  We  cannot  say  the  hour 
when,  or  in  which,  but  this  special  hour  is  come 
in  order  that  the  Son  of  man  may  be  glorified." 
One  sees  the  movement  of  all  the  ages  to  bring  in 
this  hour  in  order  to  display  the  glory  of  the  Son 
of  God.  So  those  steps  up  into  infinity  that  the 
thought  of  man  cannot  follow  in  Paul's  prayer 
for  the  Ephesians  and  us:     "Strengthened  with 


Its  Yerbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    187 

might  by  his  Spirit  in  the  iDiier  man  ;  that  Christ 
may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith ;  in  order  that 
ye,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  may  be  able 
to  comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth, 
and  length,  and  depth,  and  height;  and  to  know 
the  love  of  Christ  which  passeth  knowledge — all 
this  in  order  that  ye  might  be  filled  with  all  the 
fullness  of  God."  The  first  steps  must  be  taken 
or  the  last  never  can  be. 

Paul  says  that  he  keeps  his  body  under;  but 
the  word  he  uses  is  that  he  gives  it  a  black  eye  in 
the  hand  to  hand  fight.  Long  before  Schiller  ex- 
pressed it  Paul  knew  "  that  the  truly  excellent 
character  is  made  up  of  strictness  toward  one- 
self and  mildness  toward  others."  He  longs  to  be 
released  from  sin  as  one  would  long  to  be  un- 
chained from  a  dead  body.  We  read,  "  Strive  to 
enter  into  the  straight  gate."  But  Christ  said 
"  agonize."  The  tremendous  struggle  where  one 
man  is  crushed  or  killed  is  the  background  for  the 
word.  So  in  Hebrews  the  writer  says,  "  Where- 
fore, seeing  we  are  compassed  about  with  so  great 
a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  run  the  race."  Every 
reader  sees  force  in  the  expression.  But  the  stu- 
dent sees  a  vast  arena,  with  tens  of  thousands  of 
witnesses  in  the  eager  cloud,  months  of  training, 
prizes   of    exceeding  honor,   recklessness  of  life. 


188  The  Bible: 

struggle  that  wrecks  many  a  body,  but  thunder- 
ous applause  and  lifelong  honor  for  the  winner. 
So  he  girds  every  power,  tramples  on  the  baits 
of  pleasing  ill,  and  tremendously  runs. 

In  his  devotion  to  his  Master  Paul  writes  him- 
self down  as  the  slave  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  That 
means,  not  only  a  readiness  to  serve  him,  but  a 
readiness  to  serve  his  friends.  Ourselves  your 
slaves  for  Jesus's  sake.  It  means  a  readiness  not 
only  to  serve,  but  to  be  sold  or  be  killed  for  the 
Master's  sake.  We  are  killed  all  the  day  long. 
Such  devotion  can  come  only  from  having  the 
same  spirit  and  ends  of  life  typified  in  the  holy 
communion,  by  having  the  same  flesh  and  blood. 

Different  men  understand  according  to  their 
several  understandings,  according  to  their  habit 
or  ability  of  mind. 

When  Peter  said,  the  "  impotent  man  is  made 
whole,"  the  Pharisees  only  understood  bodily 
wholeness,  but  aeauyaraL  means  also  "  made  whole 
spiritually,"  as  in  verse  12.  '^None  other  name 
is  given  under  heaven  among  men  whereby  we 
must  be  saved,"  or  made  whole  spiritually.  That 
in  this  case  it  did  mean  a  whole  salvation,  bodily 
and  spiritual,  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  he  walked  and 
leaped  and  also  praised  God.  From  this  word  we 
get  awr^p,  a  complete  Saviour.     But  the  Pharisees 


Its  Verbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    189 

could  see  no  sucli  wealth  in  this  word.  When  the 
divine  voice  came  to  Jesus  from  the  clouds,  dull 
ears  and  dullard  souls  said  it  thundered ;  but  the 
tender  soul  of  Jesus  was  bathed  in  the  rapture  of 
loving  communion  as  it  heard  the  inexpressibly 
sweet  words  of  the  Father,  "  I  have  both  glorified 
my  name  and  will  glorify  it  again."  It  takes  a 
musical  soul  to  pick  out  of  the  magnificent  roll  of 
organ  music  the  personal  feeHngs  of  the  organist, 
the  angels  harping  with  their  harps,  and  the  per- 
sonal feelings  of  God  pouring  out  through  some 
touches  of  tone  balm  and  love  on  the  weary  and 
heavy  laden.  But  it  is  often  done.  Men  under- 
stand according  to  their  understanding.  The  Bible 
is  rich  according  to  their  richness  of  comprehen- 
sion and  dull  according  to  their  dullness.  Yain  is 
all  music  and  voice  of  affection  on  the  ear  of  death. 
Take  up  any  portion  for  word-study.  Try  the 
first  Psalm.  Has  tliis  old-time  song  any  elegan- 
cies and  depths  for  the  modern  scholar  ?  Its  trans- 
lation begins,  "  Blessed  is  the  man."  But  the  He- 
brew says,  "O  the  blessednesses  of  the  man."  Bless- 
ednesses of  every  sort,  kind,  time,  and  place,  in 
basket,  store,  and  family.  So  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment the  word  is  reuttered  in  every  opening  sen- 
tence of  the  sermon  on  the  mount.  It  begins  with 
benedictions.      MaKaoe^  is  so  lofty  a  word  that  in 


190  The  Bible: 

the  plural  it  becomes  the  name  of  the  immortal 
gods — the  blessed  ones.  This  blessed  man  shall 
be  like  a  tree  by  streams  of  water.  No ;  that  is 
not  all ;  like  a  tree  ^planted — not  a  wild  tree,  but 
one  chosen  with  care,  located  with  thought,  looked 
to  with  hope,  tended  with  affection.  As  Christ 
said  (John  x\^,  16),  after  talking  about  the  vine 
and  its  branches,  to  his  disciples,  "  I  have  chosen 
you  and  planted  you,  that  ye  should  bear  much 
fruit,  and  that  your  fruit  should  remain,"  so 
this  good  man  in  the  first  Psalm  is  planted  in  the 
best  possible  place.  He  bringeth  forth  his  fruit 
in  its  season ;  even  the  leaf  does  not  wither,  and 
whatsoever  he  begins  he  brings  to  maturity. 
Blessed  is  the  man  who  has  found  his  river.  He 
may  be  sure  infinite  care  and  love  planted  him 
there. 

We  cannot  fail  to  associate  herewith  that  ex- 
quisite and  deep  meaning,  that  has  no  equivalent 
expression  in  human  literature,  given  in  John  xv — 
"I  am  the  true  vine,  ye  are  the  branches."  It  is 
without  parallel  expressive.  It  is  only  lately  that  we 
found  out  the  power  of  life.  Even  a  soft,  pulpy 
squash  that  is  fed  through  a  succulent  vine  has 
been  made  to  lift  three  thousand  pounds.  Here 
the  tree  of  life  gives  life  in  great  surging  tides  to 
the  little  branches.     The  force  and  richness  is  in- 


Its  Ye  real  Felicities  and  Intensities.    191 

finite.  Of  course,  fruit  must  follow.  No  wonder 
a  triumphant,  victorious  apostle  should  feel,  "I 
can  do  all  things  in  him  who  strengtheneth  me." 

Not  only  are  single  words  intensely  expressive, 
but  sentences  and  figures  are  especially  so.  "  Can  a 
mother  forget  her  sucking  child,  that  she  should 
not  have  compassion  on  the  son  of  her  womb  ? 
Yea,  they  may  forget,  but  I  will  not  forget  thee." 
Men  get  faith  to  say,  "  When  my  father  and  my 
mother  forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  me  up." 

One  of  our  hymns,  with  magnificent  rhythm  and 
rol],  says : 

•'The  soitl  that  on  Jesus  hath  leaned  for  repose, 
I  will  not,  I  will  not  desert  to  his  foes ; 
That  soul,  though  all  hell  should  endeavor  to  shake, 
I'll  never,  no  never,  no  never  forsake." 

The  double  duplicated  denial  in  the  second  line 
is  not  enough.  So  we  have  the  reduplicated,  five- 
fold denial  in  the  fourth  line ;  and  the  soul  grows 
strong  as  a  rock  in  its  trust,  as  the  iterated  and  re- 
iterated reassurance  moves  on.  But  these  five 
negatives  are  a  simple  translation  of  Hebrews 
xiii,  6. 

Sometimes  words  are  heaped  up  like  converged 
and  accumulated  waves,  as  if  there  were  too  much 
meaning  f ^r  any  possible  expression :  "  The  eyes 
of  your  uKi^.erstanding  being  enlightened,  that  ye 


192  The  Bible: 

may  know  what  is  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  God's 
inheritance  in  the  saints."  It  takes  away  one's 
breatli  to  think  that  God  should  have  riches  of 
glory  in  ns  as  our  inheritance. 

We  think  of  a  baptism  as  a  symbol  of  cleansing. 
But  how  far  beyond  that  conception  goes  the 
Scripture  expression :  He  shall  baptize  you  with 
fire  and  thoroughly  cleanse.  Water  reaches  the 
outside  merely,  but  we  see  the  metal  made  liquid 
as  the  fierce  fire  goes  through  and  through,  reach- 
ing every  inner  particle  and  testing  it  whether  it 
be  dross  to  be  consumed  or  metal  to  be  fire-cleaned, 
so  that  it  can  never  be  soiled.  Here  is  a  symbol  of 
searchingness,  of  continuousness,  and  of  power. 
What  limitless  might  in  a  great  conflagration.  It 
is  so  terrible  that  the  world  and  all  things  therein 
seem  ready  to  be  burned  up.  Such  a  baptism  of 
fire  is  also  a  baptism  of  power.  It  falls  on  the 
subject  only  to  consume  the  dross,  the  evil,  and 
hence  the  weakness.  If  we  live  a  thousand  years 
we  shall  never  overestimate  the  intensity  of  mean- 
ing God  puts  in  his  symbol — the  baptism  of  fire. 
In  such  fecundity  of  expression  it  is  no  wonder 
that  we  find  more  apt  phrases  for  inscriptions  than 
we  are  able  to  invent.  In  Boston  Common,  on  the 
pedestal  of  the  discoverer  of  anesthetics,  is  the  in- 
scription, "  Neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain." 


Its  Verbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    193 

Over  the  post  office  at  Hong  Kong,  where  one 
comes  with  consuming  desire  to  hear  from  home, 
he  reads,  "  As  cool  waters  to  a  thirsty  soul,  so  is 
good  news  from  a  far  country."  A  loving  sister 
put  a  monument  over  the  grave  of  a  soldier  who 
died  in  Andersonville  prison  of  slow  hunger  and 
consuming  thirst  under  a  burning  sun.  On  it  she 
had  graved,  "  They  shall  hunger  no  more ;  neither 
thirst  any  more;  neither  shall  the  sun  light  on 
them,  nor  any  heat."  Such  a  sentiment  can  make 
death  a  boon. 

We  take  special  pleasure  in  finding  in  the  New 
Testament  a  discriminating  critical  elegance  in  the 
use  of  words.  God  seems  to  have  waited  four 
thousand  years  for  the  development  of  a  language 
fit  for  him  to  speak  to  men  with,  and  then  he  used 
its  wonderful  capacities  to  the  utmost.  There  are 
touches  of  genius  in  the  use  of  words.  For  ex- 
ample, there  are  four  words  to  indicate  the  world, 
yij,  meaning  the  ground  ;  ohovfievT]^  the  inhabited 
world ;  a/wv,  time,  the  ages,  the  period  of  a  dis- 
pensation. From  this  is  derived  a  secondary  mean- 
ing, all  that  exists  under  the  conditions  of  time ; 
and  from  this  another  meaning  with  a  finer  and 
distinctly  ethical  sense,  namely,  the  course  and 
current  of  this  world's  affairs  as  corrupted  by  sin. 

This  appears  in  Galatians  i,  4.     Christ  gave  him- 
13 


194  The  Bible  : 

self  for  our  sins  that  he  might  deliver  us  from  this 
present  evil  world. 

The  fourth  word  rendered  world  is  Kooiiog.  Its 
fii'st  meaning  is  ornament,  order,  arrangement; 
then  the  whole  material  universe  under  rule  ;  then 
the  ordered  universe  as  the  abode  of  man ;  then 
the  sum  total  of  human  life  as  alienated  from  God 
by  sin,  but  still  under  law.  In  this  last  sense  the 
word  is  unknown  in  heathen  literature,  because 
that  literature  had  no  knowledge  of  the  enmity  be- 
tween sinful  man  and  God.  But  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  full  of  this  in  tenser  meaning.  It  created  it. 
This  word,  with  its  various  meanings,  is  not 
carelessly  used,  but  its  meanings  are  carefully  and 
critically  maintained.  John  uses  this  great  word 
about  the  greatest  things  seventy-eight  times.  The 
study  of  the  use  of  this  word  is  itself  an  education. 

In  Greek  the  word  alreG)  is  used  when  an  in- 
ferior asks  of  a  superior  ;  'Epwraw  is  used  when  one 
asks  of  an  equal.  Christ  always  uses  the  verb  of 
equality  in  asking  of  the  Father.  The  doctrine  of 
Christ's  divinity  is  assumed  by  himself  here  as 
elsewhere. 

Take  an  example  of  an  authoritative  and  philo- 
sophical change  and  fixing  of  the  meanings  of 
words.  There  arc  two  words  meaning  life — ^w^, 
existence,    and   j3/o^,    manner    of    existence.     In 


Its  Yerbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    195 
heathen   literature  this  last  was  the  nobler  word. 


and  was  applied  to  the  life  of  men — biology.  The 
first  was  the  lower  word,  and  applied  to  animals — 
zoology.  This  discrimination  is  seen  in  speaking  of 
the  life  of  the  rich  fool :  "Thou  in  thy  lifetime  " — 
^(jJXl,  the  life  of  a  beast  merely — "  receivedst  good 
things."  But  in  the  'New  Testament  ^cj^  is  used  as 
the  higher  word,  and  for  this  reason  :  it  means  con- 
tinued existence  as  opposed  to  death.  But  man 
has  so  depraved  his  existence  by  sin  that  it  tends 
directly  to  death.  The  Bible  deals  with  that  life 
that  is  to  be  eternal.  So  it  takes  the  word  that 
means  continued  existence  and  adds  all  the  fine 
qualities  of  excellence  and  holiness,  and  so  makes 
it  perfect  and  eternal  life.  This  word  is  a  joy  to 
Scripture  writers.  Speaking  of  the  Word  that 
was  God,  John  says,  ''In  him  was  life;  and  the  Hfe 
was  the  light  of  men."  Tliis  word  henceforth  can 
express  the  sum  total  of  mortal  and  eternal  blessed- 
ness. The  righteous  go  into  life  eternal,  receive 
in  the  world  to  come  life  everlasting.  Jesus  said, 
"I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life."  To  Christ  God 
made  known  the  ways  of  life.  And  for  us  the 
gift  of  righteousness  shall  reign  in  life  by  one 
Jesus  Christ.  It  is  glorious  to  take  out  of  the 
earth  the  useless  ores  and  change  them  to  pure 
metals,  ready  for  the  highest  use  of  civilization  ; 


196  The  Bible: 

ready  to  express  the  highest  thought,  purpose,  and 
emotion  of  the  mind  in  the  human  figure.  So  it 
is  glorious  to  take  a  word  that  is  mere  ore  and 
change  it  to  pure  metal,  signifying  the  highest 
thought.  It  is  no  wonder  that,  having  gotten  such 
a  word  by  such  creative  processes,  it  should  be  so 
dear  to  the  creators.  John  alone  uses  it  in  those 
few  pages  fifty-two  times.  The  character  of 
John's  writing  appears  in  the  kind  of  words  that 
are  the  stars  of  first  magnitude  in  the  general 
galaxy  of  his  pages.  We  find  light,  not  of  stars 
and  suns,  but  of  souls,  twenty-three  times  ;  glory, 
not  the  tinsel  of  warriors,  but  the  eternal  radiance 
God  gives  to  men,  forty-two  times  ;  to  know,  the 
highest  tilings,  fifty-five  times ;  to  believe,  ninety- 
eight ;  and  to  bear  witness  of  the  lofty  things  of 
God,  forty-eight.  Here  are  constellations  of  glory 
beside  which  the  material  Southern  Cross  is  dim. 

This  exaltation  of  the  meaning  of  words  is  most 
effectively  done  by  John  seeking  for  a  name  of 
God. 

Our  Old  Testament  opens  sublimely :  "  In  the 
beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth." 
This  is  obviously  the  beginning  of  creation.  But 
John  goes  far  back  of  this  :  "  In  the  beginning 
was."  This  goes  back  of  all  creation,  for  all  things 
were  made  by  a  being  in  absolute  continuous  being 


Its  Yekbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    197 

and  power  before  any  of  the  all  things  were. 
Genesis  begins  at  creation  in  time  and  comes  down 
forward  along  the  ages.  John  begins  at  the  same 
point  and  goes  backward  along  the  eternities. 
But  what  name  shall  he  give  to  this  being  ?  Shall 
he  take  Yulcan  the  maker,  Jove  the  thunderer,  or 
Chronos  his  father?  That  would  be  to  muddy  his 
clear  stream  with  all  heathen  befoulments.  Shall 
he  take  Jehovah  ?  ^N"©.  He  says,  "In  the  beginning 
was  the  Logos  " — the  Word.  What  does  it  mean  ? 
It  means  a  spoken  embodiment  of  a  mental  con- 
ception or  idea ;  a  saying  of  God  or  man  ;  a  decree 
with  all  royal  authority  behind  it ;  a  commandment, 
as  the  ten  are  called  the  decalogue ;  continuous 
discourse,  as  his  word  was  with  power  ;  signifying 
inward  thought  expressed,  it  also  signifies  the 
faculty  of  reasoning.  "  The  word  of  God  is  quick 
and  powerful  ...  is  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart."  Here,  then,  is  a  name 
that  has  all  dignity  and  significance  of  wisdom,  of 
thought  expressed,  active  and  omnipotent.  John 
takes  this  greatest  name  and  adds  to  it  every  at- 
tribute of  omnipotence,  knowledge,  effectiveness, 
and  love,  and  then  lets  it  stand  as  the  highest 
human  conception  and  name  of  the  eternal  God  and 
Saviour  of  men.  The  human  heart  burns  with 
rapture  and  love  before  the  great  revelation.     The 


198  The  Bible: 

term  Word  refers  back  to  liiin  that  thinks  it  as  an 
inner  conception  of  mind  ;  it  lias  the  nature  and 
eternity  of  the  one  conceiving  it;  he  made  all 
things.  The  greatest  man  born  of  woman  said  he 
was  not  worthy  to  untie  the  shoe  latchet  of  the 
Word.  He  came  to  us  full  of  grace  and  truth.  To 
have  given  such  a  name  to  such  a  being  would  be 
a  crowning  achievement  of  the  life  of  any  genius 
that  ever  lived. 

Any  literary  production  that  has  verbal  felici- 
ties and  large  ideas  naturally  becomes  poetry. 
Poetry  is  not  rhyme  nor  rhythm  merely,  but  the  ex- 
pression of  the  spirit  of  things.  The  word  is  de- 
rived from  froLEG) — to  make,  to  create.  Imagination 
takes  all  created  things  as  mere  world-stuff.  As 
void  chaos  and  old  night  were  used  as  material 
from  which  to  create  the  cosmos,  so  the  ordered 
cosmos  is  taken  as  material  for  the  new  creations 
of  poetry.  The  activity  of  mind  builds  without 
limit  systems  and  ideals  that  it  neither  cares  to 
make  congruous  nor  needs  to  make  enduring.  It 
can  squander  more  worlds  in  an  hour  than  sober 
practicability  can  count  in  a  lifetime.  It  sees  all 
essence  of  things ;  all  possibilities  of  hidden 
powers ;  all  perfectibility  of  what  is  or  can  be, 
and  enjoys  it  as  much  as  if  it  really  were.  The 
Bible  is  such  poetry.     The  essence  of  things ! — we 


Its  Yerbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    199 

were  taught  it  in  our  infancy.  The  possibilities 
of  hidden  powers ! — every  miracle  has  come  out  of 
the  unseen,  paraded  a  moment  to  divide  rivers  and 
seas  ;  to  call  down  fire  that  burns  water  ;  to  thrill 
all  graves  of  the  saints  till  they  start  up  and  walk. 
These  possibilities  and  hidden  powers  are  displayed 
till  men  seek  a  city  that  is  out  of  sight,  and  endure 
as  seeing  Him  that  is  invisible.  The  perfectibility 
of  all  things  that  are  or  can  be ! — through  every 
evil  and  imperfection  the  Bible  looks  for  a  perfect 
state,  inhabited  by  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect.  All  earthly  poets  sink  into  insignificance 
compared  with  the  sweep  of  thought  and  loftiness 
of  ideals  revealed  and  promised  in  the  Bible.  These 
ideas  and  ideals  find  fitting  dress  of  words  and  wings 
of  music.  The  Hebrew  poets  seem  to  sing  nothing 
but  the  most  fundamental  truths  of  the  nature  of 
the  material  universe,  of  men,  and  of  God.  His 
unity,  infinity,  spiritual  nature,  individual  person- 
ality, creation  and  government  of  the  world  is  the 
one  theme  of  their  song.  Homer  may  sing  of  the 
wars  of  Greece  through  the  hates  and  jealousies  of 
men  ;  Yirgil  may  sing  of  arms  and  the  man  who 
first  came  to  Latium ;  but  it  is  all  puerile  com- 
pared to  tlie  themes  of  the  Hebrew  poets.  If  they 
touch  upon  human  themes  it  is  to  connect  national 
events  and  historical  statements  witli  God's  watch- 


200  The  Bible: 

care  and  help,  and  so  tune  all  earthly  life  to  the 
divine  ideals.  "Would  that  all  our  churches  and 
places  of  public  assemblies  might  be  resonant  with 
voices,  symbols,  psalteries,  organs,  and  harps,  con- 
necting all  human  events  and  national  history 
vrith  the  plans  of  God.  But  where  are  the  poets 
that  voice  these  lofty  thoughts  ?  There  is  nothing 
in  all  Greek,  Latin,  or  English  poetry  that  matches 
their  magnificent  sweep.  Take  for  a  single  ex- 
ample the  eighteenth  Psalm.  Special  Providence 
is  asserted  and  set  to  a  music  whereby 

"  The  earth  shook  and  trembled, 

The  foundations  of  the  hills  rocked  and  were  shaken ; 

The  Lord  also  thundered  from  heaven, 

And  the  Most  High  uttered  his  voice 

Amid  hailstones  and  coals  of  fire. 

Then  the  Lord  stretched  forth  his  hand  from  above 

And  drew  me  out  of  deep  waters; 

He  delivered  me  from  my  strong  enemy, 

From  my  adversaries,  who  were  too  powerful  for  me." 

The  essence  and  the  garb  of  poetry  so  inhere  in 
the  Bible  that  he  who  reads  it  not  hardly  knows 
what  poetry  is.  It  gives  all  the  incentive  and 
most  of  the  material  of  such  great  poems  as 
Dante's  "  Divine  Comedy  "  and  Milton's  "  Para- 
dise Lost."  But  they  are  all  merely  weak  imita- 
tions, leaving  the  greatest  parts  of  the  Bible  un- 


Its  Yekbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    201 

touched,  and  their  attempted  magnificence  is  often 
only  grotesqueness.  He  who  has  this  volume  need 
never  lack  for  poetry,  though  he  never  saw 
Shakespeare,  Milton,  and  Browning  ;  and  he  who 
had  all  these  and  lacked  the  Bible  never  knew 
poetry  in  its  highest  form. 

There  is  another  kind  of  writing  in  which  the 
Bible  is  unique — it  stands  so  alone  that  there  is 
liardly  anywhere  an  imitation  or  plagiarism.  This 
unique  writing  is  the  parable.  This  is  a  plain, 
simple  statement  of  some  everyday  fact  or  truth 
that  any  child  can  seem  to  grasp,  but  in  its  un- 
sounded depths  lie  truths  that  no  genius  can  fully 
know.  There  is  just  one  parable  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment— that  of  Nathan — by  which  he  exposed  in  a 
lightning  flash  the  glaring  iniquity  of  David.  And 
then  we  come  to  the  perfect  prodigality  of  them 
in  the  utterances  of  our  Lord.  For  at  some  times 
without  a  parable  spake  he  not  unto  the  people. 
The  nearest  approach  men  have  been  able  to  make 
to  these  incomparable  compositions  is  in  fables. 
These  are  made  up  of  extravagant  impossibilities — 
of  talking  wolves  and  reasoning  sheep,  with  the 
moral  pointed  out.  But  the  parable  is  a  natural  state- 
ment of  what  is  possible  or  actual  in  real  life,  with 
a  profound  and  infinite  meaning  attached.  One 
prodigal  becomes  a  type  of  the  race.     One  tender 


202  The  Bible: 

human  father  is  the  hint  of  the  fathomless  depths 
of  love  in  the  infinite  Father.  One  woman's  joj 
shared  among  all  her  neighbors  at  finding  her  lost 
bit  of  money  becomes  the  bit  of  float-ore  far 
down  the  plains,  significant  of  the  bomidless 
wealth  of  mines  in  the  distant  hills.  The  joy  at 
finding  one  lost  lamb,  sought  in  the  wilderness, 
brought  home  on  the  shoulders,  rejoiced  over  by 
friends  and  neighbors,  broadens  its  meaning  till  we 
see  the  joy  of  all  heaven  rej  oicing  over  that  one 
saved  lamb  more  than  over  ninety  and  nine  that 
went  not  astray,  l^ay,  we  are  told  thereby  of  the 
will  of  our  Father  in  heaven  that  not  one  of  these 
little  ones  should  perish.  Among  algebraic  symbols 
there  is  a  figure  eight  laid  horizontally.  It  means 
infinity  of  distance.  The  parables  take  the  little 
events  of  daily  life  and  make  them  mean  infinity  of 
fatherly  care  and  tender  love — a  whole  heaven 
brooding  over  us,  tender  witli  mother-love,  lighted 
with  more  than  a  mother's  smile,  and  radiant  with 
immortal  hope.  It  is  no  wonder  that  these  para- 
bles have  never  been  imitated,  ^o  one  has  the 
infinite  meaning  and  insight  to  do  it.  And  now 
how  shall  we  account  for  this  seizure  of  the 
scholarship  of  our  age  by  long  gone  previous 
ages?  Why  is  this  scholarship  yet  held  by 
these   far-off    ages  with   a    power  that    Pericles, 


Its  Verbal  Felicities  and  Intensities.    203 

Demosthenes,  Livy,  Ovid,  and  Cicero  do  not  ap- 
proach ?  How  knew  the  herd  men  of  Tekoa,  the 
shepherd  lads  of  the  hills  of  Bethelem,  and  the 
fishermen  of  Galilee  literature,  having  never 
learned?  Whj  do  ignorant  and  unlearned  men  of 
thousands  of  years  ago  rule  us  from  tlieir  graves  in 
matters  of  taste,  elegant  expression,  irrefragable 
logic,  in  the  breadth  and  vitality  of  ideas  ?  Have 
our  ages  nothing  to  supersede  them  ?  The  ores 
were  put  into  the  earth  myriads  of  centuries  ago. 
It  is  our  joy  to  mine  them.  ]N^obody  asks  for  a 
new  mine  to  be  created,  only  to  find  them  that  are. 
Peter  found  one  great  lead  when  he  was  sent  to 
Csesarea ;  Philip,  when  sent  to  Samaria ;  our 
century,  when  it  was  sent  into  all  the  earth  one 
hundred  years  ago  in  missionarj^  effort.  There  is 
yet  more  light  to  break  out  of  this  old  v.'ord  ! 
Whence  comes  it  ?  There  is  but  one  answer.  All 
Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God.  Holy 
men  of  old  wrote  it  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

And  now  one  more  word.  How  many  times  we 
have  heard  the  word  amen.  It  has  mostly  meant 
to  us,  Here  is  the  end,  or  an  expression  of  joyful 
assent.  Of  course  we  know  that  it  is  also  said  to 
mean  a  final  petition — so  be  it,  or  so  mote  it  be. 
But  surely  that  is  not  all.     This  word,  uttered  by 


204  The  Bible. 

angels  and  by  God,  nay,  used  as  the  very  name  of 
God,  is  not  in  the  nature  of  a  vain  repetition,  a 
reuttered  summary  of  prayer  when  you  are 
through.  There  must  be  a  deeper  meaning.  Re- 
cent scliolarship  has  not  mined  in  vain  on  this  word 
out-cropping  from  the  depths  of  God's  thought 
and  utterance.  It  means.  So  it  shall  he.  When 
one  has  prayed  till  desire  has  changed  to  faith,  and 
faith  matured  into  full  assurance,  and  God's 
j)romise  firmly  held  gives  way  to  God's  presence, 
then  he  can  rightly  stop  and  say.  Amen ;  so  it 
shall  be. 

And  now  that  the  study  of  these  broad  words 
may  make  us  broad  ;  these  wise  words  may  make 
us  wise ;  this  all-pervading  wisdom  may  give  us 
insight ;  these  things  of  the  Spirit  may  make  us 
spiritual ;  these  utterances  of  the  mind  of  God 
may  make  us  Godlike,  and  that  ourselves  and  all 
the  universe  may  be  irradiated  with  the  light  of 
poetry  till  every  place  shall  be  She-schina,  and 
every  mind  trace  all  effects  back  to  the  first  great 
cause  ;  and  that  the  joy  of  the  Lord  shall  be  our 
strength  and  ecstacy  forever,  we  *most  devoutly 
and  in  full  assurance  pray.  Amen  and  Amen. 


VIII, 

THE  bible:  ITS  RELATION  TO 

COLLEGE  STUDENTS 

AND  STUDIES. 


SYLLABUS. 


VIII.  SUBJECT— The  Bible  :  Its  Relation  to  Col- 
lege Students  and  Studies. 

T^e  Apollo  Belvidere  the  Ideal /or  Body:  the  Perfect  Stature  of  Manhood 
in  Christ  Jesus  /or  Mind. 

The  life  offered  in  the  Bible  one  of  joy  and  victory.  Sets  one  free  from 
narrowness  and  prejudice. 

Relation  of  the  Bible  to  Studies, 

Ancient  history ;  languages;  expression  and  style.  The  Autliorized  Ver- 
sion was  born  in  the  age  of  Shakespeare,  Bacon,  and  Raleigh.  Laws 
of  criticism.  Logic ;  The  larger  mathematics ;  The  due  value  of  facul- 
ties and  the  true  order  of  acquisition  ;  Ethics;  Duty  to  ourselves,  to 
others ;  Culture,  the  broadest  is  in  the  Bible. 


ym. 

THE  BIBLE :  ITS  RELATION  TO  COLLEGE  STU« 
DENTS  AND  STUDIES. 

IN  speaking  of  the  ideals  of  tlie  Bible  I  pointed 
out  those  which  it  offered  for  jour  physical 
powers  and  form.  Go  into  the  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts  and  see  the  models  of  the  Apollo  Belvidere 
and  Yenus  de  Milo.  And  then  come  into  the 
Academy  of  the  Bible  and  see  tlie  Apollo  Belvi- 
dere  of  mind.  N"o  ;  that  is  too  feeble  a  figure  ;  see 
the  perfect  stature  of  manhood  in  Christ  Jesus. 
We  can  get  some  idea  of  a  proper  capacity  for 
men  before  we  come  into  the  presence  of  the 
model.  Onr  capacity  should  be  full,  varied,  well 
rounded,  and  symmetrical.  We  are  not  satisfied 
with  a  one-armed,  one-legged,  one-eyed,  long- 
eared  physical  capacity.  Nor  even  having  two 
eyes  would  we  desire  to  be  squint-eyed,  short- 
sighted, and  color-blind.  No ;  we  want  two 
strong,  straight,  clear  optics,  able  to  look  any  mail, 
truth,  fact,  and  even  God,  square  in  the  face. 

So  in  our  mental  being.     We  would  be  sorry  to 
have  our  minds  degenerate  into  mere  logic-chop- 


208  The  Bible: 

ping,  with  no  sense  of  beauty,  no  creative  imagi- 
nation, no  alliance  with  some  superb  ideal  fellow- 
mortal  by  the  exquisite  ties  of  love.  "No  muti- 
lated, crippled,  malformed  monstrosities  of  mind, 
just  sane  enough  to  keep  out  of  bedlam,  for  us 
students  in  the  university.  Give  us  full  develop- 
ment in  all  parts  and  attributes  of  our  nature,  "W"e 
have  large  ideas  about  this  matter.  There  have 
been  men  sublimely  great  in  single  departments ; 
Porson  in  memory,  Mezzofanti  in  scores  of  lan- 
guages, !N'ewton  in  mathematics,  Tennyson  in  po- 
etry, Grant  in  war,  Lincoln  in  giving  liberty, 
Seward  in  managing  questions  that  concern  nations. 
But  why  should  men  be  great  in  single  depai*t- 
ments  only  ?  Give  a  man  years  enough  and  field 
enough,  why  may  he  not  be  as  great  in  every  de- 
partment as  anybody  ever  was  in  any  one  ?  Mi- 
chael Angelo  touched  sculpture,  architecture,  and 
poetry  with  equal  ease.  Leonardo  da  Yinci 
touched  painting,  government,  machinery,  and 
war  with  the  hand  of  a  master.  Why  cannot  all 
men,  being  endued  with  a  wide  range  of  apprecia- 
tive faculties,  take  a  wide  range  of  development  ? 

But  what  has  the  Bible  to  do  with  it  ?  First 
in  the  general  aspect.  The  life  the  Bible  teaches 
is  one  of  joy  and  victory.  The  great  ideal  Life 
that  was  lived  among  us  gave  his  joy  to  his  follow- 


Its  Relation  to  Students  and  Studies.    209 

ers  that  their  joj  might  be  full.  He  gives  so 
much  Joy  that  no  poverty,  sickness,  persecution, 
hnprisonment,  or  death  can  keep  a  man  f  i-om  sing- 
ing praises  though  in  dungeons,  chanting,  "  AYe're 
marching  through  Immanuel's  land  to  fairei 
worlds  on  higli,"  and  shouting  in  death,  "  I  have 
fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  kept  the  faith ; 
henceforth  tliere  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of 
glory."  This  imparted,  pervasive,  and  upwelling 
fountain  of  joy  lubricates  nature,  sets  all  faculties 
to  working  in  an  ensphering  joy. 

Second.  The  Bible  sets  one  free  from  narrow- 
ness, prejudice,  and  perversion  of  faculties,  giving 
him  a  lively  interest  in  the  truth.  The  truth  is 
emancipating,  makes  men  free.  The  Christian's 
ideal  is  Him  who  was  the  truth.  Every  truth  in 
the  universe  is  an  emanation  from  him,  and  to  get 
any  truth  is  to  get  a  part  of  God.  Every  Bible 
student  fronts  the  sunrise  of  eternal  truth  with 
eyes  alert  for  knowledge. 

Third.  But  the  Bible  has  relation  to  particular 

studies.     In  the  whole  field  of  ancient  history  it 

stands  alone.     It  gives  the  framework  into  which 

are  fitted  the  shreds  and  patches  of  knowledge  dug 

out  of  the  graves  of  empires.      Its  veracity  has 

never  been   impeached.     Every  discovery  seems 

made  to  authenticate  the  Bible  record.     ]S"ot  only 
14 


210  The  Bible: 

does  it  give  a  certain  number  of  facts,  but  it  gives 
the  origin  of  races,  tlie  trend  of  the  ages.  It  shows 
the  vast  watershed  of  the  nations,  and  hence 
where  the  rivers  must  flow  and  the  oceans  must 
be. 

In  the  department  of  language  it  has  done  so 
much  that  Homer  and  Caesar  hardly  need  be  men- 
tioned. They  are  for  the  few,  the  Bible  for  the 
million.  Translations  by  the  hundreds  have  been 
made.  Dialects  that  were  a  chaos  of  vocal  speech 
only  have  been  reduced  to  grammatical  law  and 
order  so  that  the  Bible  could  be  put  into  the 
minds  of  men.  Are  we  proud  of  our  varied  and 
exact  English  speech  ?  The  Bible  largely  made 
it.  And  no  student  seeking  forceful  speech  can 
neglect  the  legal  exactness,  the  ornate  imagery, 
the  peerless  rhetoric,  and  sublime  words  of  the 
Bible.  Many  are  the  testimonies  of  men  to  this 
truth.  When  we  are  surprised  at  the  compact,  sim- 
ple, vigorous  style  of  any  writer  we  are  sure  to  find 
that  he  owes  it  largely  to  the  Bible.  Many  have 
gladly  confessed  it.  E-uskin  is  without  question 
the  great  master  of  pure,  eloquent  English  prose. 
A  volnnie  of  beauties  of  thought  and  expression 
culled  out  of  his  pages  almost  equals  the  entire 
amount  of  writing.  Whence  came  that  pure, 
idiomatic,  vigorous  speech  ?     He  himself  has  told 


Its  Relation  to  Students  and  Studies.    211 

us  that  liG  owes  it  to  the  Bible.  After  the  grood 
custom  of  seventy  years  ago  his  mother  required 
him  to  commit  to  memory  chapters  of  the  Bible 
by  the  dozen.  He  gives  us  the  list  of  twenty 
chapters  and  psalms  so  committed.  One  can  easily 
see  that  the  peerless  range  of  thoughts  and  happy 
expression  of  them  filled  the  young  mind  with  a 
perfect  treasury  of  loftiest  thought  and  clearest 
expression.  They  give  the  mind  an  early  expan- 
sion while  it  is  yet  elastic,  and  sets  the  trend  of  its 
thought  along  the  largest  continents  that  are.  One 
can  easily  trace  in  his  rich  volumes,  that  really  en- 
dow the  human  race  with  wisdom,  insight,  and  a 
new  uplift  in  the  matter  of  art,  the  influence  of 
that  book  that 

* '  gives  a  light  to  every  age ; 
It  gives,  but  borrows  none." 

In  our  own  time  a  man  emerged  from  obscurity 
into  the  greatest  prominence  of  any  man  in  any 
century  or  race.  The  civilized  world  had  received 
him  with  open  sneers.  But  again  and  again  he 
enriched  human  literature,  till  at  the  dedication  of 
the  cemetery  of  Gettysburg  he  made  what  all  men, 
even  his  hostile  critics,  welcomed  as  the  most  apt 
and  telling  speech  of  all  time.  Whence  came  the 
ideas  and  their  jeweled  setting  of  words  in  that 
immortal  utterance?     They  were   both  from  the 


212  The  Bible: 

Bible,  the  book  he  knew  more  than  any  other  in 
his  youth. 

Let  me  beseech  these  students,  who  from  their 
opportunities  and  tastes  ought  to  become  the  lead- 
ers of  this  age  in  lofty  thought  and  its  elect  ex- 
pression, that  they  study  for  history,  philosophy, 
poetry,  and  a  pure  style  of  their  expression  that 
volume  that  has  silently  lifted  English  speech  to  a 
height  unknown  to  any  other  language  on  the  face 
of  the  earth. 

It  is  a  most  extraordinary  thing  that  the  common 
version  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  has  such  a  delicate 
poise  of  related  clauses  and  such  perfect  rhythm  of 
rippling  flow  that  our  revisers  of  1881  have  often 
marred  rather  than  mended  the  elder  version. 

Greece  did  one  memorable  thing.  It  gave  the 
world  a  language  fit  for  God  to  speak  to  man  in. 
The  sixteenth  century  did  one  thing.  It  gave  us  in 
the  English  Bible  that  English  style  that  purifies 
feeling,  that  enlarges  mind,  gives  strongest  wings 
to  thought,  and  lives  in  memory  like  the  remem- 
bered music  of  the  happy  childhood  days.  It  was 
finished  in  1611.  Men  had  worked  at  it  for  a  cen- 
tury. It  was  during  this  time  that  the  greatest 
development  and  perfection  came  to  our  good  old 
mother  tongue.  It  was  the  age  of  Shakespeare  and 
Bacon,  of  Spenser  and  Ealeigh.     Tlie  belatinized 


Its  Relation  to  Students  and  Studies.    213 

speech  of  to-day  is  no  improvement.  In  mucli 
have  we  greatly  advanced,  but  in  language  we  have 
gone  back. 

In  future  years  this  professorship  will  do  com 
mendable  work  for  a  better  English  speech. 

It  is  in  the  interest  of  Bible  exposition  that  lan- 
guage has  been  traced  back  beyond  Greek,  He- 
brew, and  Syi'iac  speech,  and  the  beginnings  and 
tendencies  of  the  language  in  its  earliest  youth 
made  clear. 

In  the  department  of  criticism  the  Bible  has  of- 
fered almost  the  exclusive  field  for  the  develop- 
ment of  its  laws  and  the  application  of  its  princi- 
ples. 

The  same  is  true  in  the  sphere  of  logic.  The 
Bible  and  the  theological  deductions  therefrom 
have  been  the  great  intellectual  gymnasium  of  the 
race.  There  are  no  finer  examples  of  logical  rea- 
soning than  the  Scriptures  afford.  There  are 
chains  of  statement  strong  enough  to  bind  a  recre- 
ant world  to  the  throne  of  God.  In  the  realm  of 
homiletics  and  apologetics  the  great  efforts  of 
human  reasoning  have  been  put  forth.  What 
better  examples  of  reasoning  than  Butler's  Analogy 
and  Fletcher's  Checks  f  In  the  study  of  these 
and  kindred  works  the  strongest  minds  have  need 
to  gird  themselves   afresh  for  the  battle.     And 


214  The  Bible: 

when  one  comes  to  the  deep  questions  of  the 
human  will  this  whole  region  has  been  explored, 
surveyed,  and  mapped  by  theologians. 

We  cannot  too  much  remember  that  the  ques- 
tions on  which  the  Bible  compels  the  employment 
of  the  mind  are  the  large  questions.  And  there- 
fore they  are  enlarging  to  tlie  mind  itself.  These 
questions  cannot  be  settled  in  a  day,  nor  w^ith  the 
mere  ipse  dixit  of  any  man.  They  are  questions 
about  which  the  great  thought  of  a  century  or  two 
surges  in  great  ebbs  and  flows.  They  are  settled 
only  after  the  giants  who  have  been  made  by  the 
discussion  have  applied  their  best  powers  to  the 
solution.  The  logical  conclusions  reached  are  not 
such  trivial  tilings  as,  Therefore  A  is  equal  to  C, 
or,  Therefore  every  cat  has  more  than  two  tails,  but, 
"  There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them 
which  are  in  Christ  Jesus."  ^'  The  Spirit  itself 
beareth  witness  with  our  spirit,  that  we  are  the  chil- 
dren of  God  :  and  if  children,  then  heirs  ;  heirs  of 
God,  and  joint-heirs  with  Christ;  if  so  be  that  we 
suffer  with  him,  that  we  may  be  also  gloi'ified  to- 
gether." "  There  remaineth  therefore  an  eternal 
rest  for  the  peoj^le  of  God."  Whoever  wants  to 
employ  the  mind  on  greatening  greatness  rather 
than  belittling  littleness  may  turn  to  the  works  on 
and  about  the  word  of  God  with  coniidence. 


Its  Relation  to  Students  and  Studies.    215 

You  will  hardly  expect  that  the  Bible  has  much 
value  in  the  department  of  exact  mathematics. 
But  it  has.  It  rises  into  the  higher  mathematics 
at  once.  It  does  not  add  sucli  petty  quantities  as 
two  and  one  quarter  cents  to  three  and  one  half 
cents,  but  it  adds  qualities — ''  giving  all  diligence 
to  being  partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  add  to 
your  faith  virtue ;  and  to  virtue  knowledge ;  and 
to  knowledge  temperance  ;  and  to  temperance  pa- 
tience ;  and  to  hardihood  godliness ;  and  to  godli- 
ness brotherly  kindness ;  and  to  brotherly  kindness 
charity.  For  if  these  things  be  in  you,  and  abound, 
they  shall  make  you  to  be  neither  barren  nor 
unfruitful  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  It  does  not  take  away  one  pound  from 
a  ton,  but  shows  how  God  may  be  obliged  to  take 
away  a  man's  part  out  of  the  book  of  life  and  out 
of  the  holy  city,  and  the  magnificent  hopes  and 
joys  of  this  book.  It  does  not  multiply  one  dollar 
by  six  per  cent  for  one  year,  but  it  says  to  Abra- 
liam,  "  ^Number  now  the  stars  if  you  be  able  and 
count  the  sand  of  the  shore;  5(9 will  I  multiply 
thy  seed.  In  blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  and  in 
multiplying  I  will  multiply  thee."  And  to  every 
man  it  says,  "  Grace,  merc}^,  and  peace  be  multi- 
plied to  you."  In  the  Bible  is  a  new  set  of 
equations.     Take  all  the  world,  its  wealth,  power. 


216  The  Bible: 

perpetuity,  and  you  must  put  a  vast  sign  of  j)^u8 
before  it  before  you  can  put  a  human  soul  on  tlie 
other  side  of  the  equation.  God  has  to  invent 
new  symbols  of  quantity.  Go  stand  on  a  high, 
bestormed  cliff  by  the  sea.  See  that  great  wave 
rolling  toward  the  land.  It  towers  up  in  majesty, 
it  rushes  in  wild  fury.  !N"o  anchor  can  hold  a  ship 
against  it.  It  falls  on  the  beaten  shore  like  an 
earthquake.  One  such  spasm  of  power  is  incon- 
ceivable. But  lift  up  your  eyes — there  are  two, 
ten,  a  hundred,  a  thousand,  six  thousand  miles  of 
them  clear  to  Hong-Kong.  That  is  what  we  call 
from  the  Latin  an  abundance.  The  Bible  takes 
up  that  symbol  of  "plenty  and  puts  it  to  signify 
the  quantity  of  common  everyday  mercies.  God 
is  able  to  make  all  grace  abound  as  the  waves  of 
the  sea  toward  you.  For  he  is  able  to  do  exceed- 
ing abundantly  above  all  that  we  can  ask  or  even 
think.  So  in  the  olden  time  he  opened  the  win- 
dows of  heaven  and  poured  out  a  deluge  that  rose 
above  the  mountains.  So  he  says  that  on  certain 
conditions,  easily  complied  with,  he  will  open  the 
windows  of  heaven  above  any  single  soul  and  pour 
out  a  Niagara  and  deluge  of  blessings  till  there 
shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it.  To  learn 
the  true  infinities  we  need  to  come  to  the  Bible. 
It  is  not  an  infinity  of  a  single  line  or  empty  space. 


Its  Helation  to  Students  and  Studies.    217 

but  a  fullness  of  joy  in  everlasting  life.  Its  riches 
are  not  dollars  that  enslave  you  to  keep  them,  and 
that  death  takes  care  that  you  shall  inevitably  fail 
to  keep,  but  in  its  larger  thought  declares,  "All 
things  are  yours ;  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or 
Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things 
present,  or  things  to  come  ;  all  are  yours ;  and  ye 
are  Christ's ;  and  Christ  is  God's."  That  is,  you 
not  only  have  things  within  reach,  the  world,  life, 
and  things  present,  but  over  and  above  this  ye  are 
Christ's,  and  therefore  he  will  give  you  all  his 
things.  Come  into  my  joy.  Sit  down  on  my 
throne.  But  as  he  is  God's,  all  else — stars  that  the 
eye  never  saw,  loves  the  heart  was  never  conscious 
of — is  yours.  And  you  are  so  closely  and  insep- 
arably bound  to  them  that  '*  I  am  persuaded  that 
neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principali- 
ties, nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  crea- 
ture, shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of 
God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  Here 
the  world's  mights  are  powerless  before  almighti- 
ness ;  here  this  world's  standards  are  dwarfed  be- 
fore the  other  world's  infinities. 

How  easily  the  Bible  finds  an  expression  for 
vastness  no  man  has  ever  measured,  and  no  man 
ever  will.     "  High  as  the  heavens  are  above  the 


218  The  Bible: 

earth,  so  high  are  mj  thoughts  above  your  thoughts, 
and  my  ways  above  your  ways."  Astronomers 
have  been  trying  to  sound  the  height  of  the  heav- 
ens for  years.  We  measure  it  as  far  as  we  can 
with  the  standards  of  earth  expressed  in  miles.  It 
is  nothing.  Then  we  let  light  carry  the  measur- 
ing-rod. It  goes  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  thou- 
sand miles  a  second,  and  we  let  it  speed  foi*  days, 
years,  thousands  of  years,  till  reason  is  powerless 
and  imagination  palsied,  and  we  do  not  measure 
the  height  of  the  heavens.  So  far,  so  fa?'  is  God's 
thought  above  our  thought. 

Even  beyond  all  that  tower  the  Bible  ideas  of 
habitation  and  empire.  For  it  says  that  Christ 
ascended  up,  far  above  all  heavens,  that  he  might 
fill  all  things. 

The  Bible  teaches  the  due  proportion  of  facul- 
ties, and  the  true  order  of  acquisition.  We  are 
not  naturally  wise  in  this  matter.  Yet  it  is  nec- 
essary that  we  should  know  it.  If  a  man  seeks 
potatoes  and  butterflies,  bread  and  perfumes,  he 
had  better  secure  the  bread  and  potatoes  first.  He 
must  make  his  hut  of  stone  before  he  commands 
the  cathedral  to  stand  like  frozen  music.  "We  are 
apt  to  give  ourselves  to  what  we  like  rather  than 
what  we  ought.  Thus  pleasures  may  take  the  place 
of  duties,  music   may   rise    with  its   voluptuous 


Its  Relation  to  Students  and  Studies.    219 

swell  when  it  ought  to  be  sounding  charge.     "We 

may  be  pressing  a  bed  of  roses  when  we  ought  to 

be  out  in  the  world's  broad  field  of  battle,  a  hero 

in  the  strife. 

**  'Tis  man's  perdition  to  be  safe 
When  for  the  truth  he  ought  to  die." 

There  are  many  fields  of  enjoyment  and  knowl- 
edge any  one  of  which  is  broader  than  we  can 
know  or  enj  oy.  Colleges  have  excessively  increased 
their  range  of  elective  studies  so  as  to  catch  the 
taste  and  fancy  of  as  many  as  possible.  How  shall 
students  inexperienced  in  any  of  them  and  unde- 
veloped in  their  powers  decide  what  to  take  ?  The 
Bible  is  a  help. 

Take,  for  instance,  beauty  and  music  and  intel- 
lectualism  and  anything  beyond  as  objects  of 
human  desire  and  enjoyment.  Can  we  find  their 
proportionate  value  and  the  just  order  of  our 
seeking  ?  I  think  so.  Beauty  must  never  be 
sought  as  an  end,  because  it  is  not  independent. 
There  must  always  be  a  basis  to  support  it,  a  solid 
background  on  which  to  rest.  The  beauty  of  the 
face  divine  must  have  health  and  clear-sighted 
honor  behind  it,  or  it  is  only  skin  deep,  can  be 
bought  at  any  druggist's.  Beauty  sought  as  an  end 
is  emasculating.  The  families  and  nations  that 
have  so  sought  it  have  lost  it,  and  all  things  else. 


220  The  Bible: 

Without  beauty  of  blossom  tliere  might  be  fruit, 
and  without  beauty  of  art,  architecture,  and  dress 
there  might  be  great  sturdy  worth  and  amplest 
success.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  great  Cromwellian 
eras  have  but  little  regarded  beauty. 

So  of  music.  It  is  nothing  if  it  does  not  ex- 
press something.  There  was  no  worthy  music  till 
there  were  agonies,  redemptive  travails  of  soul,  and 
divine  nature  broken  down  under  human  sorrow 
and  sin.  Greece  knew  nothing  of  great  music  nor 
its  instruments.  But  when  there  was  great  mean- 
ing to  be  voiced,  then  oratorios,  anthems,  misereres, 
and  hallelujahs  broke  out  from  instruments  fit  to 
voice  them,  and  which  in  themselves  seemed  to 
feel  and  exult  and  shout  and  tremble  into  ecstasy 
with  the  soul  of  music,  able  to  make  a  mass  of 
metal  and  wood  sympathetically  alive.  But  music 
as  an  end  is  a  failure.  It  is  enervating,  and 
perishes  with  its  worshipers.  Give  us  great  soul 
eras,  great  struggles  of  millions  for  liberty,  and 
you  get  great  music.  Give  us  struggles  of  the  God- 
man  for  the  redemj)tion  of  the  race,  and  you  get  a 
Messiah  oratorio  as  much  above  "  Yankee  Doodle  " 
as  a  world's  salvation  is  above  a  nation's  emancipa- 
tion. But  all  hinges  on  something  behind  it, 
waiting  for  expression  too  deep  to  be  voiced  even 
by  thunder,  too  sweet  and  precious  to  be  signified 


Its  Kelation  to  Students  and  Studies.    221 

even  by  the  angels  singing  over  Bethlehem.  So 
neither  beauty  nor  music  can  be  a  prime  pursuit  of 
life. 

But  then  there  is  intellectualism,  with  its  varied 
and  lofty  pursuits,  with  its  lofty  flights  among  the 
stars,  its  reliving  of  the  geologic  eternities :  shall 
this  be  the  highest,  ultimate  end  of  life  for 
students  who  expect  to  study  forever?  A  man 
seeking  intellectualism  as  the  chief  end  of  man 
need  not  be  weak  necessarily.  He  may  be  as 
tremendous  as  Milton's  Satan,  or  more  tremendous, 
as  Mrs.  Browning's  Satan,  crying :  "  I  chose  this 
ruin;  I  elected  it  of  my  will,  not  of  service. 
What  I  do  I  do  volitient,  not  obedient."  But  no 
intellectualism  can  make  an  ideal  man.  And  it  is 
just  here  the  Bible  does  its  grandest  service.  When 
Jesus  said,  Gain  the  whole  world  and  be  a  pauper 
forever  after  it  is  burned  up,  he  included  all 
intellectuality  in  the  whole  world.  It  is  an  awful 
power  of  moral  analysis  that  says :  "  Though  I 
have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  foreseeing  the  future, 
and  understand  all  mysteries  and  all  knowledge, 
and  though  I  have  all  faith  so  that  I  could  remove 
mountains,  and  have  not  love,  I  am  nothing." 
Here  is  a  reckoning  of  balance  with  infinity  on  one 
side  and  nothing  on  the  other.  Or  shall  we  com- 
bine all  ?    Shall  we  let  aesthetics  beautify  intellect. 


222  The  Bible: 

and  intellect  strengthen  beauty?  Shall  we  let 
beaut  J  marry  strength  and  music  play  the  wed- 
ding march  ?  Alas !  beauty  is  always  sensuous. 
Even  the  great  iron  right  arm  of  the  engine  is 
weakened  by  being  polished.  To  get  a  surface  for 
polish  the  exterior,  compacter  part  of  the  iron 
must  be  taken  off.  And  if  beauty  is  sought  at  the 
expense  of  strengtji — if  beauty  becomes  the  only 
end  in  view — and  the  engine's  arm  becomes  a  mass 
of  filigree,  the  first  breath  of  steam  jams  it  into  a 
useless  lump. 

But  suppose  we  make  intellectualism  the  end  and 
beauty  the  adornment  ?  Nations  have  already  tried 
this  and  failed.  And  unless  there  be  more  than 
strength  and  beauty,  if  there  be  no  further,  higher 
power  of  moral  life,  the  world  is  but  one  great 
Merlin  and  lissome  Yivian.  Merlin  is  great  and 
strong,  venerable,  and,  alas !  vulnerable.  In  the 
dark  woods,  in  time  of  storm,  lithe  Yivian  winds 
herself  about  him  in  pretense  of  fear,  and  when 
the  storm  was  over  "  what  should  not  have  been 
had  been."  Then  great  Merlin  lay  as  dead,  all  lost 
to  life  and  use  and  name  and  fame.  And  Yivian 
leaped  adown  the  forest  shrieking,  "  O,  thou  fool !" 
and  all  the  echoing  forest  answered,  "  Fool."  If  you 
also  cry  fool  do  not  limit  it  to  the  poor,  individual 
Merlin.     Believe  me,  that  a  world   whose   chief 


Its  Kelation  to  Students  and  Studies.    223 

product  is  a  graveyard  of  nations  and  races  speaks 
with  a  voice  that  will  be  heard.  And  it  avers  that 
beauty,  music,  and  intellect  are  not  enough.  That 
student  is  no  student  who  cannot  learn  this.  The 
Bible  tells  us  tliat  there  is  a  spiritual  law  of 
righteousness  that  exalteth  a  nation,  and  a  breaking 
of  it  that  is  a  curse  to  any  people. 

But  these  statements  are  not  negative  merely. 
They  are  positive  also.  The  Bible  is  not  a  ghost 
of  dead  and  buried  things,  shaking  its  head  in 
dismal  warning  at  what  we  can  neither  help  nor 
understand.  It  dares  the  future  with  positive 
statement  of  conditions  of  success.  There  is  a 
directive  force  and  impulse  in  the  command,  Seek 
first  the  kingdom  of  God,  that  is,  rightness  or 
righteousness,  and  all  things  of  music  and  beauty 
and  intellect  and  food  and  drink  shall  be  added 
imto  you. 

One  of  your  most  important  studies  is  that  of 
ethics.  We  have  learned  that  laws  and  principles 
are  mighty  for  work,  and  equally  mighty  to 
destroy.  Dynamite  will  tear  the  heart  out  of  a 
mountain  for  our  railways  and  it  will  wreck  a 
great  part  of  a  city.  Liberty  will  inspire  a  people 
to  noble  deeds,  or  run  wild  and  destroy  the  work 
of  ages.  Hence  the  most  important  question  is, 
What  are  the  laws  and  principles,  especially  in  the 


224  The  Bible: 

highest  realms  of  ethics  ?  for  this  is  most  important. 
Our  gi'eatest  work  is  to  learn  what  is  right,  to  do 
it  ourselves,  and  teach  it  to  the  world. 

There  have  always  been  sagacious  maxims  re- 
sulting from  the  observation  of  the  wise.  The 
names  of  Confucius,  Solon,  and  Solomon  suggest 
what  men  have  been  able  to  do  in  formulating 
axioms  of  what  is  just.  Socrates  ''  assigned  to 
ethics  the  supreme  place,  as  the  only  worthy  sub- 
ject of  philosphers'  investigation."  He  held  that 
wickedness  proceeded  from  ignorance,  and  that 
knowledge  was  the  highest  good.  Aristippus  held 
that  pleasure  was  the  highest  good.  Plato  taught 
that  the  common  good  was  the  highest  excellence. 
Aristotle  that  the  sum/mu^n  honum  was  rational 
happiness.  This  subject  has  been  the  theme  of 
highest,  closest  study  of  all  the  greatest  minds 
along  the  ages. 

Christ  came  into  their  discussions  which  re- 
sulted from  human  inability  to  comprehend  so 
vast  a  subject,  and  set  forth  and  embodied  in  him- 
self a  perfect  system  of  moral  excellence.  Criticism 
can  find  no  fault  with  the  flawless  excellence  of 
the  system,  or  with  the  perfect  working  out  in  the 
sinless  life.  How  Socrates  in  his  search  for  the 
supreme  good  would  have  welcomed  the  gospel  of 
John !    It  would  have  been  manna  to  his  hungry 


Its  Helation  to  Students  and  Studies.    225 

soul  and  light  to  his  benighted  mind.  How  he 
would  have  basked  in  the  light  that  lighteth  every 
man!  The  various  schools  of  ethics  that  the 
greatest  philosophers  of  the  world  gave  us  have 
all  disappeared,  and  the  ethics  of  the  Man  of 
Galilee  have  taken  their  place.  There  is  no  other 
basis  but  the  Bible ;  no  law  but  its  law ;  no 
authority  but  its  authority. 

In  the  farewell  sermon  of  Kev.  Brooke  Here- 
ford, of  Boston,  he  said  :  "  I  long  for  the  time 
when,  from  this  fringe  and  tasselry  of  constantly 
new  studies,  Boston  shall  turn  to  that  old  Bible 
which  made  the  life  of  the  fathers  strong  and  true ; 
and  reading  it — only  with  '  larger,  other  eyes ' — 
shall  feel  the  power  of  its  slow  unfolding  of  God's 
truth  and  of  its  culminating  life  of  Christ ;  and, 
rooted  tliere,  shall  grow  to  nobler  heights  of 
thoughtful  Christian  character  than  ever  before. 
That  is  what  this  community  most  wants." 

The  first  duty  in  this  system  of  ethics  is  to  our- 
selves. It  pertains  to  our  greatest  good  and  happi- 
ness as  individuals.  Against  all  theories  that  our 
lives  belong  to  some  master  or  the  state,  we  are 
taught  that  our  lives  are  our  own.  Love  can  give 
them  up,  but  no  man  has  a  right  to  take  them 
from  us.     We  have  power  to  lay  them  down  for 

men.     The  second  duty  is  that  of  making  the  most 
15 


226  The  Bible: 

of  ourselves.  The  perfecting  of  our  powers  is 
commanded.  This  command  covers  every  faculty 
from  tlie  rnde  strength  of  Yulcan  to  the  beauty  of 
the  Graces.  And  when  we  are  personally  per» 
fected  we  are  bound  to  wield  our  powers  like 
natural  kings  and  queens  over  empires  as  wide  as 
the  race  and  more  lasting  than  time.  For  royal 
souls  ethics  is  a  sublime  science  and  its  practice  the 
wielding  of  a  scepter. 

Christ  not  only  brought  a  system  of  ethics  but  a 
power  to  make  that  system  effective  in  human 
lives.  "We  hunger  for  power — it  is  our  natural 
appetite,  our  original  endowment.  I  want  to  in- 
sist here,  before  you  seekers  after  knowledge,  that 
there  is  a  real  practical  meaning  in  the  words  of 
Christ,  that  the  Spirit  will  lead  us  into  all  truth  and 
show  us  things  to  come.  It  is  consonant  with  that 
other  Scripture,  "  If  any  man  lack  wisdom,  let  him 
ask  of  God,  who  giveth  liberally  to  all  men  and 
upbraideth  not,  and  it  shall  be  given  him."  Ex- 
perience shows  that  the  reception  of  the  illumi- 
nating Spirit  of  God  is  a  practical  help  in  the  attain- 
ment of  algebra  and  Latin.  When  I  used  to  teach 
I  saw  young  men  come  in  from  the  farms,  great 
hulks  of  fellows  who  seemed  to  be  little  besides 
body.  Tell  them  your  dearest  and  brightest  truth, 
one  that  makes  noonday  in  your  soul  perpetually, 


Its  Relation  to  Students  and  Studies.    227 

and  look  for  an  aurora  of  perception  and  apprecia- 
tion in  their  faces,  and  you  would  not  see  a  glim- 
mer. But  let  them  receive  the  illumination  of  the 
Spirit  by  an  actual  regeneration,  and  their  faces 
glowed  like  the  morning.  Algebra  became  a 
charming  science  and  Latin  a  recreation.  Ruskin 
is  right  in  saying,  "  Practically  a  man  of  deadened 
moral  sensibility  is  always  dull  in  his  perceptions 
of  truth,  and  thousands  of  the  highest  and  most 
divine  truths  of  nature  are  vrholly  concealed  from 
him,  however  constant  and  indefatigable  his  in- 
tellectual search."  And  the  Lord  is  right  in  tell- 
ing the  Jews  that  if  they  would  not  hearken  unto 
his  voice  to  observe  and  do  his  commandments 
and  keep  his  statutes  they  shall  grope  at  noonday, 
as  the  blind  gropeth  in  darkness. 

One  of  the  watchwords  of  this  age  is  Culture. 
This  means  far  more  than  fitting  a  man  for  a 
special  trade  or  craft.  For  the  man  should  be 
more  than  a  trade.  He  should  have  aspirations 
above  the  bread  he  wins.  He  is  the  inheritor  of  all 
the  ages  past,  and  heir-apparent  of  all  that  can 
come.  Our  culture  seeks  a  full,  harmonious  de- 
velopment of  all  our  faculties;  freedom  from 
narrowness ;  a  royal  hospitality  to  everything 
great  and  greatening ;  sympathies  as  wide  as 
humanity    in   this   world  or  any  other;   feelings 


228  The  Bible: 

catholic  and  Mgli,  responsive  to  tlie  laws  and 
sacrifices  of  tlie  universe.  Our  education  must 
draw  out  every  possibility  of  a  man,  make  the  most 
of  circumstances,  and  utilize  to  the  utmost  all 
proffered  helps,  human  and  divine.  Ours  is  not 
a  training  for  to-day,  but  for  all  days  and  beyond. 
In  so  broad  a  curriculum  religion  must  have  place. 
The  motto  on  our  corner  stone  is,  "  Pro  Scientia 
et  Beligione !  "^^  There  are  two  main  words, 
certainty  or  knowledge,  which  is  power,  and  re- 
ligion, which  is  a  binding  of  the  soul  back  to 
central  truth  and  the  central  Being,  as  gravitation 
binds  planets  to  central  suns.  It  is  a  power  for 
order,  not  chaos ;  for  development  by  law,  and  not 
wrecks  by  chance.  That  culture  is  narrow  and 
small  that  pertains  only  to  the  earthward  side  of 
our  nature.  For  there  are  certainly  God  ward 
capacities.  And  religion  which  embraces  tliese  is 
large  enough  and  strong  enough  to  make  every 
earthward  culture  a  subordinate  department. 

In  this  world's  histories  we  find  Cyrus  directing 
his  armies;  Alexander  his  subordinate  general, 
Parmenio ;  Napoleon  his  Marshal  Key.  But  in  the 
larger  outlook  of  the  Bible  we  find  the  King  of 
kings  directing  his  subordinate  lieutenants  Cyrus, 
Alexander,  and  l^apoleon.  Culture  that  studies 
Homer  and  Pindar  for  poetry,  Plato  and  Aristotle 


Its  Belation  to  Students  and  Studies.    229 

for  pliilosopliy,  Herodotus  and  TImcydides  for 
history  is  somewhat  broad.  But  that  culture  that 
makes  all  these  departments  subordinate,  and 
studies  Him  that  came  down  from  heaven  to  give 
us  its  ideas  and  feelings,  is  far  more  broad.  These 
first  are  as  separate  states.  This  last  is  a  compact 
and  perfected  nation.  Over  the  cross  were  three 
languages.  All  that  Greek  could  express  of 
beauty  and  grace,  all  that  Latin  could  express  of 
law  and  order  and  world-wide  citizenship,  and  all 
the  Hebrew  could  express  of  holiness  and  eternitj? 
united  there  to  say,  "  This  is  the  King." 


IX. 

THE  bible:  ITS  RELATION  TO 

THE  QUESTIONS  OF  TO-DAY 

AND  TO-MORROW. 


SYLLABUS. 


IX.  SUBJECT — The   Bible:   Its  Relation  to  the 
Questions  of  To-day  and  To-morrow. 

Once  all  that  the  Bible  was  to  do  for  men  was  in  its  to-morrow. 

There  are  still  questions  of  its  to-morrow  even  its  lovers  do  not  compre- 
hend. Single  nations  have  developed  single  ideas ;  the  Bible  many. 
It  gives  nations  several  symmetrical  developments,  and  then  crowns 
all  with  spiritual  life. 

Questions  q/"  To-day  managed  by  Bible  influence. 

Slavery  ameliorated,  abolished.  Labor  agitations.  Divorce.  Intem- 
perance, 

Questions  o/  Philosophy. 

Agnosticism  dark.    The  Bible  light.     Psychical  societies. 

Questions  o/  To-morrow. 

More  important  than  those  of  yesterday.  Death — Man  knows  nothing 
of  it  of  himself,  Christ  knows  all  about  it.  The  Bible  gives  the  only 
knowledge  of  the  future.  It  is  the  real  evolution  ;  a  perfect  place, 
perfect  environment,  perfect  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect. 


IX. 

THE  BIBLE  :   ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  QUES- 
TIONS OF  TO-DAY  AND  TO-MORROW.. 

WHEl^  the  Bible  was  finished  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  ago  all  that  it  has  done  for  the 
world  in  onr  day  was  a  question  of  its  to-morrow. 
Nay,  more,  when  God  said  to  Abraham  in  the  dim 
dawn  of  Bible  beginnings,  "  In  thy  seed  shall  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed,"  all  that  that  prom- 
ise should  do  for  the  Jew  was  a  question  of  its 
to-morrow.  And  when  Peter,  the  Jew,  felt  that 
it  would  be  an  unclean  thing  for  him  to  go  to 
Cornelius,  the  Roman  centurion,  and  God  broke 
down  that  prejudice  by  a  special  revelation,  and  let 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  flood  out  over  the  Roman 
and  other  nations,  it  was  a  partial  fulfillment  of 
that  promise  to  bless  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
by  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful.  And  as 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  have  not  yet  been 
reached,  and  there  are  hungry  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions crying,  "Hast  thou  not  a  blessing  for  me 
also?"  there  must  be  a  to-morrow  for  the  Bible 


234  The  Bible: 

which  even  its  lovers  and  distributers  do  not  com- 
prehend. 

Every  race  that  has  lifted  itself  into  permanent 
visibility  and  achieved  aught  worthy  of  remem- 
brance has  been  actuated  by  some  great  purpose, 
and  has  crystallized  its  labor  about  some  single 
idea.  One  thought  is  too  vast  for  a  nation  of 
millions  to  develop  it  all,  or  even  for  one  people 
to  be  great  in  several  departments.  Any  one 
thought,  with  its  ramifications  above  and  roots 
below,  with  its  materializations  from  the  ideal  into 
the  actual,  is  vast  enough  to  employ  millions  for 
centuries.  One  idea  has  availed  to  give  develop- 
ment and  direction  to  each  national  life.  The 
Egyptians  sought  to  perpetuate  life.  It  mummied 
the  bodies  even  of  birds  and  cats  by  the  million 
for  the  soul's  return.  The  Persians  sought  light, 
the  Jews  cleanliness,  the  Greeks  beauty,  the  Ro- 
mans law,  the  Saxons  liberty.  Has  the  Bible  other 
and  broader  ideas  awaiting  development  and  actual- 
izations of  the  other  millions  and  nations  yet  to 
to  be  ?  Plenty  of  them.  It  has  even  succeeded 
in  grafting  on  one  nation  a  second  seminal  idea,  in 
giving  one  people  a  double  development,  O,  what 
if  this  could  have  been  done  in  the  past!  "What 
if  there  could  have  been  added  to  the  idea  of  life 
in  Egypt,  expressed  as  it  was  in  ponderous  and 


Its  Relation  to  To-day  and  To-mokrow.    235 

permanent  pyramids  and  horrid  mummies  await- 
ing tlie  soul's  return,  tlie  idea  of  immortal  life; 
nay,  immortal  youth  leaving  a  worn-out  body  to  be 
born  into  one  with  a  thousandfold  more  of  aptitude 
and  sense  perception,  that  would  be  unhurt  amid 
the  war  of  elements,  the  wreck  of  matter,  and  the 
crush  of  worlds!  What  an  enlargement  of  idea, 
and  therefore  of  life.  Then  there  need  not  have 
been  any  gloomy  despair  coming  in  on  the  nation 
with  an  unconquerable  power  of  death,  and  even 
burying  the  whole  people  in  one  wide  grave. 

What  if  there  could  have  been  added  to  the 
Roman  idea  of  law  the  Christian  idea  of  grace  and 
the  Jewish  idea  of  purity !  The  mind  is  awed  at 
the  vast  possibilities  that  such  inspirations  could 
have  wrought.  Then  the  great  empire  staggering 
toward  death  over  three  continents  for  six  hun- 
dred years,  and  falling  at  length  a  corpse  immense, 
with  none  to  bury  it,  and  the  whole  world  wearing 
the  black  funeral  pall  of  the  Dark  Ages  in  mourn- 
ing for  its  fallen  and  lost  hope,  changes  to  a  body, 
erect,  alert,  marching  toward  progress  at  the  double 
quick,  the  light  of  victory  in  its  face  and  the  ex- 
perience of  glory  in  its  heart. 

I  said  the  Bible  had  ingrafted  a  secondary  idea 
on  a  nation  already  possessed  of  one.  What  is  it  ? 
Well,  here  is  this  English-speaking  people.     It  is 


2S6  The  Bible: 

the  blest  inheritor  of  all  the  past ;  all  that  Egypt 
gamed  about  life,  Persia  about  light,  Greece  about 
finite  beauty,  Borne  about  law,  and  itself  about 
liberty.  But  beyond  all  this  the  Bible,  and  the 
Bible  alone,  has  given  the  idea  and  the  actuality 
of  a  spiritual  life.  I  do  not  refer  to  the  hope  big 
with  immortality  in  the  life  to  come,  but  to  an 
actual,  broad,  vivid,  and  potent  life  that  now  is. 
It  is  a  life  that  quickens  the  body  to  more  robust- 
ness and  vigor.  It  gives  the  mind  new  ideals  and 
ideas.  It  more  than  doubles  the  emotions,  touch- 
ing every  seen  and  earthly  love  into  greater  power, 
making  husband  and  wife,  child  and  country  pre- 
ciously more  dear,  and  giving  the  heart  a  grasp  so 
broad  that  it  loves  the  Chiefest  among  ten  thousand 
and  the  One  altogether  lovely  with  unquenchable 
ardor.  It  is  a  real  life  with  working  force  accom- 
plishing results.  Why  are  the  millions  of  money 
and  thousands  of  lives  poured  out  in  missionary 
work  among  the  heathen  ?  Because  this  spiritual 
life  has  power  over  money  and  self  greater  than 
either  of  them.  Life  handles  dead  things.  The 
lowest  life  in  this  sea  that  now  sings  its  endless 
song  in  my  ears  as  I  write  takes  lime  that  I  cannot 
find  in  the  water,  and  builds  itself  a  house  of  rav- 
ishing beauty  of  color  and  form.  Even  the  life 
in  the  seed  that  the  wind  whirls  aloft  and  carries 


Its  Kelation  to  To-day  and  To-mokrow.     237 

for  hundreds  of  miles  builds  the  soil  and  sun  into 
these  California  trees  thi-ee  hundred  feet  high  and 
thirty  feet  in  diameter.  But  this  spiritual  life  is 
able  to  build  lives  so  sublime  that  they  feel  able  to 
send  their  roots  into  all  the  globe  and  handle  not 
dead  things,  but  men,  nations,  and  immortal  souls, 
and  build  a  temple  fit  for  the  indwelling  God. 
The  tests  of  life  are  existence,  mastery  of  environ- 
ment, and  propagation.  The  spiritual  life  meets 
them  all  as  no  other  life  does.  If  any  national  or 
racial  life  proves  itself  to  be  real,  spiritual  life  does 
far  more  so. 

I  said  the  Bible  had  ingrafted  this  on  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  already  having  developed  the  idea  of 
civil  liberty.  "No  other  race  has  it  in  great  measure. 
All  the  German  missionary  societies  together  in 
the  number  of  workers  and  contributions  do  not 
equal  the  smallest  of  the  three  great  English  mis- 
sionary societies.  Where  the  members  of  an  Amer- 
ican Church  average  a  gift  for  this  work  of  one 
dollar  and  thirty-seven  cents,  the  members  of  the 
great  German  State  Church  average  three  quarters 
of  a  cent.  Yes,  it  is  the  Anglo-Saxon  that  has  this 
power  of  spiritual  life.  And  to  them  must  the 
dying  nations  look  for  the  gift  of  it.  He  who  gives 
possesses  the  receiver.  In  this  high  spiritual  realm 
both  the  gift  and  he  who  is  made  alive  by  the  get- 


238  The  Bible: 

ting  BtiU  belong  to  tlie  giver.     O,  people  of  my 
blood,  give  to  the  world  and  possess  the  world ! 

But  can  the  Anglo-Saxon  deal  with  the  ques- 
tions of  to-day  and  to-morrow  ?  Egypt  could  not. 
Persia,  Greece,  Home  could  not.  There  are  powers 
in  humanity  greater  than  nations.  One  idea, 
however  developed,  cannot  meet  all  ideas.  If  all 
ideas  could  be  developed,  symmetry,  strength,  and 
permanance  would  be  achieved.  Has  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  enough  of  them  to  abide  and  conquer? 
My  leaping  hope  cries,  "Certainly."  My  timid 
mind  murmurs,  "  Perhaps."  Heaven  is  perfect, 
and  therefore  permanent.  We  have  its  ideals  and 
law  of  being.  Adopt  them,  live  them,  and  we 
are  permanent.  We  are  it.  Questions  of  to-day ! 
What  are  they  ?  Do  they  differ  from  questions 
of  yesterday?  Are  the  same  earthquakes  and 
volcanoes  under  us  that  toppled  dow^n  and  buried 
under  fiery  floods  the  dead  and  buried  nations  of 
the  past  ?  Yes.  Can  we  handle  these  forces 
and  change  that  fierce  fire  to  gentle  warmth 
under  the  soil  for  better  growths  ?  I  think  so. 
One  of  Eome's  great  perils  was  its  vast  number 
of  slaves.  A  great  wronged  class  is  a  perpetual 
menace.  It  is  liable  to  break  out  in  servile  war, 
the  most  horrible  of  wars.  These  slaves  had  been 
made  barbarous,  fierce,  and  unfeeling  by  ever^ 


Its  Relation  to  To-day  and  To-morrow.    239 

cruelty  in  veritable  by  unbridled  taskmasters.  They 
trained  and  educated  slaves  by  oppression,  lash, 
ignorance,  to  make  them  subject  to  their  lusts,  for 
gain  or  pleasure.  All  gentle  influences  were 
painstakingly  destroyed,  all  the  refinements  of 
family  ties  were  abolished  or  reversed.  Insurrec- 
tion was  to  be  naturally  expected,  as  naturally  as 
explosion  follows  touching  fire  to  gunpowder. 
Then  the  trained  beast  or  devil  in  man  broke  out 
and  did  its  work.  But  our  nation  escaped  both 
the  servile  war  and  the  danger  of  its  extra  horri- 
bleness.  How?  The  spirit  of  our  blessed  Bible 
had  wrought  in  master  and  slave.  The  master 
and  his  family  were  often  so  loved  that  the  slave 
would  rather  shed  his  own  blood  than  theirs. 
The  lurid  fires  of  hate  and  hell  that  burned  in 
many  places  were  haloed  and  rainbowed  with 
celestial  gentleness  and  love  in  our  South.  Sec- 
ondly, the  slaves  by  the  hundred  thousand  be- 
longed to  Christian  Churches,  and  there  learned 
such  faith  in  the  God  of  Israel  that  they  expected 
he  would  raise  up  their  Moses,  shatter  the  power 
of  Pharaoh,  divide  the  Bed  Sea,  and  bid  them  go 
free.  The  faith  was  not  in  vain.  He  did.  In 
such  a  sublime  faith  it  was  better  for  the  slave  to 
wait  than  to  fight.  Freedom  would  come  and  his 
hand  be  bloodless.     These   perils  we  survived. 


240  The  Bible: 

They  will  never  return.  I  need  not  tell  this  au- 
dience that  in  the  terrible  darkness  of  that  struggle 
with  death  all  our  brightness  and  hope  gleamed 
up  from  our  spiritual  life.  All  the  kindly  amel- 
iorations of  suffering  during  the  war,  and  in  the 
end  all  that  change  from  the  horrible  vce  metis — ■ 
"  woe  to  the  conquered  " — to  mercy,  help,  food,  mil- 
lions of  dollars  for  material  upbuilding  and  edu- 
cation, came  from  our  spiritual  life. 

There  are  certain  wri things  of  discontent  among 
the  laborers  of  our  land  now ;  statements,  pe- 
titions, resolutions  fill  the  daily  press.  Did  I  say 
torches  flare  at  midnight,  bludgeons,  dirks,  and 
secret  assassinations  make  home  and  life  unsafe? 
Ah,  no  ;  we  live  in  a  different  age.  Any  such  dis- 
play is  recognized  as  belonging  to  the  Dark  Ages, 
when  the  apostate  Church  was  supreme.  We 
know  that  the  carrying  out  of  the  principles  of  the 
Bible  would  banish  any  just  cause  of  complaint 
from  all  the  employed  classes.  Indeed,  but  for 
Christianity  there  would  be  no  social  questions 
and  labor  problems.  All  would  be  buried  in  one 
unmitigated  poverty,  oppression,  and  slavery.  One 
of  the  earliest  of  its  enactments  was  that  the  la- 
borer should  be  Justly  and  promptly  paid.  Thou 
shalt  not  keep  back  the  price  of  a  day's  labor  over 
night.     Our  revelation  originated  the  true  democ- 


Its  Relation  to  To-day  and  To-morkow.    241 

racj.  It  is  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  common  people. 
Christ  originated  respect  for  the  despised.  He  in- 
corporated caprices  of  sympathy  into  a  law.  He 
denounced  selfish  greed  and  uttered  such  senti- 
ments against  oppressing  the  hireling  as  make  his 
word  the  real  bulwark  of  the  poor.  The  questions 
of  labor  can  all  be  settled  by  revelation  in  two 
words.  First,  every  man  shall  labor  who  can.  If 
he  will  not  work  he  shall  not  eat.  Second,  if  he 
cannot  work  brotherly  charity  shall  provide  for 
him.  Thus  all  are  laborers,  and  hence  all  are  cap- 
italists, for  capital  is  only  crystallized  labor. 

How  does  Jesus  of  Kazareth  do  this  ?  A  few 
words  of  sympathy  and  a  few  diatribes  against 
wealth  are  not  enough  for  the  poor.  Does  he 
give  any  vital  principles  that  have  power  to  affect 
this?  I  think  so.  He  first  taught  the  value  of 
the  human  unit.  David  said,  "  Number  me  the  na- 
tion." Napoleon  asks,  "  How  large  is  the  army  ? " 
They  looked  at  the  mass  to  judge  of  its  mo- 
mentum. Revelation  exalts  the  unit.  It  says  the 
king  in  his  power  shall  not  injure  the  one  ewe 
lamb  of  his  humblest  subject.  Christ  says  a  man 
had  better  change  his  place  of  existence  from  this 
world  to  the  next  by  means  of  a  millstone  and  the 
sea  rather  than  offend  one  of  God's  cared  for  little 
ones.      Every  human   being  and  every  human 


242  The  Bible: 

right  is  sacred.  The  least  unit  is  exalted  too  high 
to  be  injured  with  impunity. 

His  remedy  for  the  evils  of  the  race  seems  to 
him  adequate  and  perfect.  He  says  to  a  weary 
world  under  sentence  of  death,  "  Come  unto  me,  all 
ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  rest 
you.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me ; 
for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart :  and  ye  shall 
find  rest  unto  your  souls." 

Somebody  thinks  somebody  has  invented  a  doc- 
trine of  altruism  and  foisted  it  on  us  as  the  new 
prevailing  philosophy.  See  the  tossed  caps  in 
air,  hear  the  shouts  of  those  who  think  a  new  law 
of  life  has  been  invented  and  pronmlgated.  It  is 
only  a  weak,  millionth  dilution  of  the  law  of  life, 
Christ  not  only  promulgated,  but  lived.  Paul 
saw  it  so  clearly  he  gave  the  world  the  exhortation, 
"  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfill  the 
law  of  Christ's  life." 

There  is  not  a  problem  in  social  science,  in 
woman's  position,  in  international  law  and  comity 
that  is  not  clearly  solvable  by  the  principles  and 
doctrines  of  revelation. 

Some  one  thinks  the  so-called  "  religion  of  hu- 
manity" is  a  new  invention  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Such  a  one  only  advertises  his  own  igno- 
rance of  the  religion   of  the  perfect  Man,  some 


Its  Relation  to  To-day  and  To-mokeow.    243 

fragments  of  wliicli  have  been  stolen  and  palmed 
off  on  the  partaker,  who  is  as  bad  as  the  thief. 

Another  perilous  question  of  to-day  is  that  of 
divorce.  It  imperils  not  only  our  morals  but  the 
continuation  of  our  species.  The  family  is  the 
basal  unit  of  all  worthy  society.  To  imperil  the 
family  is  to  imperil  worthy  society.  Different 
States  deal  with  this  question  in  different  ways, 
some  of  them  with  so  much  laxity  as  to  endanger 
their  continuance.  Families  become  few,  are 
easily  broken  up,  and  children  are  scarce. 

The  settlement  of  this  whole  question  is  in  the 
book  of  God.  It  declares  the  original  design. 
IS'ature  corresponds  with  the  plan.  One  man,  one 
woman  until  death  doth  part.  'No  severance  of  the 
tie  except  for  such  infidelity  as  itself  breaks  the 
compact  and  renders  the  parties  unfit  for  associ- 
ated life.  Such  unions  will  give  to  society  a 
goodly  seed  well  fathered,  well  mothered,  well 
trained,  and  not  a  spawn  of  bastards  knowing  no 
father  nor  mother  except  the  foundling  asylum 
supported  by  the  State. 

Another  of  the  questions  of  to-day  is  intemper- 
ance. It  is  so  fruitful  of  money-making,  with 
such  quick  and  easy  returns  for  ^the  capital  in- 
vested, and  so  genial  to  the  laziness  that  is  fostered 
by  keeping  bar,  that  it   is  hard  to  handle.     Ya- 


24:4  The  Bible: 

I'ioiis  States  have  various  laws,  none  of  wbich  will 
execute  themselves.  It  takes  public  sentiment  as 
well  as  law.  !N"ow,  this  difficult  question  can  be 
settled  at  once  in  a  community  that  is  entirely 
Christian  by  an  apj^eal  to  revelation.  In  the  first 
place,  no  man  w^ould  be  a  drunkard,  and  I  think 
not  even  a  moderate  drinker.  In  the  second 
place,  no  man  would  be  so  accursed  as  to  put  a 
bottle  to  his  neighbor's  lips  as  a  gift.  And  no 
man  w'ould  desire  to  sell  liquor  himself,  or  would 
be  allowed  to  do  so  by  his  righteous  fellow-citizens. 
To  rid  the  w^orld  of  the  measureless  curse  of  in- 
temperance we  have  only  to  put  in  j^ractice  the 
principle  of  self-mastery,  doing  good  to  all  men, 
abhorring  that  which  is  evil,  cleaving  to  that  which 
is  good,  eating  no  meat  and  drinking  no  drink  so 
long  as  the  world  stands  that  will  cause  my  brother 
to  offend.  The  Church  under  whose  broad  banner 
we  gather  to-day  thinks  that  it  well  embodies  the 
teaching  of  the  word  on  this  subject  in  its  motto, 
"  Total  abstinence  for  the  individual  and  total  pro- 
hibition for  the  State." 

But  there  are  other  questions  of  to-day  more 
important  than  institutions ;  they  are  questions  of 
principles.  "No  man  can  be  alive  without  know- 
ing that  blind  Samsons  have  been  tugging  and 
heaving  at  the  very  pillars,  not  merely  of  our  em- 


Its  Relation  to  To-dat  and  To-moreow.    245 

bodiment  of  thonght  in  institutions,  but  at  the 
very  pillars  of  our  thought.  They  have  asked 
whether  there  is  any  thought.  They  have  thought 
deeply,  spoken  loudly,  and  printed  widely  to  show 
that  thought  is  not.  Seven  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  millions  of  millions  of  vibrations  per  second 
in  celestial  ether  is  not  too  much  for  man  to  con- 
ceive, at  least  to  assert.  Men  investigate  the  in- 
finities, they  rush  where  angels  fear  to  tread.  But 
they  have  exalted  law  and  annihilated  mind.  They 
have  reduced  man's  soul,  beating  strong  wings  in 
the  infinite,  to  an  automaton  because  a  toad  would 
climb  up  an  incline  after  its  brains  had  been  ex- 
tracted. They  have  annihilated  man's  imperious 
will,  mastering  circumstances  and  armies  of  other 
wills,  by  exalting  the  power  of  heredity  till  our 
responsibility  lay  not  in  ourselves  but  in  the 
original  protoplasm  from  which  we  sprung  millions 
of  ages  ago.  They  have  abolished  mind  and 
brought  death  and  imbecility  to  light  through 
their  gospel,  or  rather  devilspel,  of  matter  and 
law.  They  made  infinite  riding  of  space  and 
eternities  on  mathematical  laws,  Milton's  creative 
imagination,  and  Newton's  " Let  there  be  light" 
over  the  chaos  of  worlds  and  Christ's  love  that 
was  stronger  than  death  to  be  merely  the  outcome 
of  gray  matter  in  the  brain.     They  gave  us  stones 


246  The  Bible: 

for  bread  and  icicles  for  our  lilies  on  the  resiirrectiofi 
morning.  Tliej  were  the  apostles  of  a  new  creed 
which  they  tried  to  chant  to  the  weary  souls  of 
men.  "  I  believe  in  chaotic  nebula,  an  omnipo- 
"-"ent  law  w^ithout  mercy,  in  the  disunion  of  saints, 
the  dispersing  of  the  body,  and  in  death  everlast- 
ing.    Amen." 

This  world-wide  cuttlefish  had  his  day,  and  inky 
enough  he  left  the  realm  of  thought.  A  great 
Pacific  tide,  mother  of  all  tides,  assails  the  cliffs 
under  my  feet.  Abundance  of  waves  hurry  ter- 
ribly and  hungrily  to  devour  them.  To-day  they 
are  black  with  acres  of  uptorn  seaweed  and  wrecks 
of  ships  and  hopes.  But  I  know  that  tide  has  its 
limits.  Out  of  the  vast  spaces  comes  a  power  as 
potent  for  ebb  as  for  flood,  and  to-morrow  shall 
find  this  tumult  silenced  and  pure  water  impearl- 
ing  all  these  stones.  There  is  a  power,  not  our- 
selves, that  makes  for  clarity.  There  are  facts 
that  these  annihilators  of  mind  have  ignored.  There 
are  great  forces,  veritable  bulls  of  Bashan,  that 
push  and  toss  us  whether  we  will  or  not.  If  the 
red  slayer  thinks  he  slays  them  they  turn  and  come 
again.  Evidences  and  instincts  and  intuitions  of 
the  existence  of  mind  leap  like  lightnings  out  of  a 
cloud.  Our  darkness  cannot  prevent  their  light, 
our  dumbness  cannot  prevent  their  thunder.     And 


Its  Relation  to  To-day  and  To-morrow.    247 

when  these  lights  shine  and  their  imperious  thun- 
ders utter  their  voices  divers  and  sundry  of  these 
men  skulk  into  ignorance,  even  into  know-nothing- 
ism,  which  they  dignify  as  agnosticism.  Why 
should  they  be  ignorant  ?  Shall  we  give  lives  to 
science  about  material  phenomena  and  grow  imbe- 
cile about  spiritual  phenomena  ?  Are  not  these 
things  as  worthy  of  our  thought,  study,  and  de- 
votion ? 

Into  all  this  confusion  comes  the  clear  light  of 
our  divine  book.  It  says  wisdom  is  the  principal 
thing  and  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning 
of  wisdom.  It  says  that  the  Spirit  is  the  source 
of  matter,  law,  and  life.  Around  the  universe  of 
matter  is  a  cloud  of  glory  from  which  lightnings 
come,  a  true  light  that  lighteth  every  man  that 
cometli  into  the  world.  Voices  come  loud  as 
thunder,  mere  terror  to  some,  but  to  others  articu- 
late and  clear,  saying,  "  Thou  art  my  beloved  Son 
in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  It  teaches  that  the 
spirit  world  is  a  plenum  to  our  vacuum ;  that 
the  best  definition  of  man  is,  a  want,  and  of  God, 
a  supply.  Unmistakable  are  the  signs  that  the 
next  age  is  to  be  the  age  of  the  Spirit.  Why 
should  we  not  go  up  from  barbarities  to  amenities, 
from  coarse  to  fine,  from  matter  to  mind,  from 
mind  to  spirit?     We  believe  in  evolution,  devel- 


248  The  Bible: 

opment,  progress.  Even  now  psychical  phenomena, 
spiritism,  mind-transference,  mind-cure,  mesmer- 
ism are  popular,  and  demand  study  and  mas- 
tery. Psychical  societies  are  formed,  seances  are 
held,  and  abundant  humbug  starkly  evident  is 
endured  in  order  to  study  phases  of  psychical 
being  that  have  put  all  phases  of  Sadduceeism  where 
it  illustrates  its  own  doctrine,  that  there  is  no  res- 
urrection. Out  of  this  craze  of  fashionable  so- 
ciety we  shall  rise  to  real  investigation  of  this 
world's  greatest  fact  of  spiritual  entities.  We  are 
to  have  greater  observers  and  philosophers  in 
spiritual  life  than  in  the  so-called  natural.  The 
Spencers  and  Darwins  are  already  born.  The  past 
has  demanded  and  received  all  our  study,  the 
future  is  more  difficult  and  important.  Geology 
goes  backward  only.  Astronomy  only  comes  up 
to  date.  But  man's  future  and  its  belongings  are 
larger  and  longer  than  his  past,  and  the  day  of  its 
prophetic  history  dawns.  And  in  that  dawning 
day  of  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  the  only  text- 
book having  authority  will  be  the  Bible. 

But  the  questions  of  to-morrow  ?  Whatever  men 
may  differ  and  dispute  about,  all  must  concede  the 
fact  of  death.  It  is  more  portentous  than  the  fact 
of  life,  for  which  all  other  facts  exist,  for  it 
masters  all  life.     All   vigor,   all  accomplishment. 


Its  Relation  to  To-uay  and  To-morrow.    249 

all  affection,  even  all  hope,  must  feel  the  mas- 
tery of  death.  Every  victory  that  life  wins  and 
prizes  is  to  swell  the  triumph  of  death.  His  ap- 
pearance for  a  single  victim  among  thousands 
puts  an  end  to  all  banquets,  paralyzes  all  doings, 
dominates  all  emotion.  What  do  men  know  about 
it  ?  ^Nothing.  What !  Every  man  since  creation's 
morning  died,  and  no  living  one  knows  about  it ! 
Even  so  it  is.  But  the  Bible  is  a  revelation  on  this 
subject.  There  was — nay,  there  is — One  who 
abolished  death  and  illustrated  life  and  even 
brought  immortality  by  his  life  and  Gospel.  He 
went  through  death,  and  came  back  to  show  that 
it  was  powerless  on  a  good  man.  He  showed  that 
death  was  an  unclothing  of  the  spirit  that  it  might 
be  clothed  upon  more  fitly  and  gorgeously ;  that  the 
body  was  laid  aside  as  a  worn-out  garment ;  that  a 
temporary  and  perishable  tent  or  tabernacle  was 
laid  down  that  a  house  eternal  might  be  taken  up 
for  a  body.  Ah,  how  long  have  men  thought  of 
death  as  palsy,  numbness,  stupidity,  a  great  end, 
and  annihilation  !  Hear  the  better  Gospel  for  the 
doomed  world :  Death  is  opportunity,  new  birth  to 
higher  life,  the  dawn  of  immortality. 

By  the  questions  of  to-morrow  I  do  not  mean 
the  questions  of  the  latest  syllable  of  unrecorded 
time,  the  far-off  to-morrow  of  man,  the  to-morrow 


250  The  Bible: 

after  death.  Man  has  a  desire  to  live.  It  is  a 
constituent  element  of  life.  It  is  necessary  to  its 
continuance.  "Without  this  desire  life's  enemies 
would  be  victorious  and  all  human  life  cease. 
Man  has  always  been  a  fighter.  To  harmonize 
with  environment,  to  be  fit  to  survive  when  a 
thousand  die,  means  struggle,  warfare — means  put- 
ting all  of  skill  and  energy  a  man  has  against  death 
and  barely  winning,  only  to  put  all  in  peril  to 
barely  win  again.  Man  will  strive  all,  strain  all, 
peril  all  every  day  for  daily  life.  This  tells  its 
value.  It  is  worth  more  than  all  else  that  he  hath. 
Life  must  also  be  individual.  Nirvana  is  only  for 
those  already  dead.  Separate,  concrete,  individual 
existence  is  the  life  for  which  a  live  man  will  give 
all  that  he  hath.  To  be  ourselves  is  the  only  way 
to  be  forceful,  to  conquer  kingdoms,  and  perform 
our  twelve  labors.  Who  can  give  assurance  of  a 
future  and  of  an  individuality  ?  There  is  but  One. 
"When  we  face  feebleness  of  body,  and  a  few  more 
steps  in  the  road,  where  we  have  descended  miles 
already,  will  change  feebleness  to  death,  we  do  not 
go  to  Homer,  Yirgil,  or  Dante,  who  have  wandered 
among  the  shades,  and  ask  them  about  the  continued 
personality  and  environment  of  Agamemnon, 
Creusa,  or  of  dead  popes ;  Shakespeare  has  no 
cleansing  to   fit   us  for  the  passage ;    Milton  no 


Its  Relation  to  To-day  and  To-moreow.     251 

assurance  tliat  there  is  any  place  to  go  to  ;  ra- 
tionalism is  discordant,  contentious,  and  unauthor- 
itative ;  agnosticism  is  as  dumb  as  a  sphinr  and 
dark  as  a  niglit  to  which  no  morning  can  eve'* 
come.  But  there  is  One  who  says,  "  I  am  tlio 
Resurrection,  and  the  Life :  he  that  liveth  and 
belie veth  in  me  shall  never  die.  I  go  to  prepare 
a  place,  a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare 
a  place  [blessed  iteration],  I  will  come  again, 
and  receive  you  unto  myself ;  that  where  I  am, 
there  ye  may  be  also."  Not  only  a  place,  but  blessed 
emphasis  of  individuality,  you  and  I.  He  speaks 
of  what  he  knows,  for  he  has  been  through  life 
and  through  death.  We  find  him  just  the  same 
after  both,  and  when  he  left  the  earth  an  angel 
assured  us  that  this  same  Jesus  should  also  come 
again.  And  when  the  beloved  disciple  saw  him 
after  many  years,  true  enough,  he  was  the  same 
Jesus — same  in  individuality,  in  personality,  in 
loves,  and  in  objects  of  life.  That  One  is  our 
brother,  and  as  he  is  we  shall  be. 

This  doctrine  is  thoroughly  consistent.  It  is  a 
survival  of  the  fittest.  It  is  not  a  survival  of 
muscularity,  nor  of  intellectuality.  MiUions  of 
feeble  folk  and  undeveloped  minds  might  be 
crushed  out  of  being  by  one  crashing  surge  of  one 
world  aG;ainst  another.     No ;    it   is  a   survival  of 


252  The  Bible: 

what  is  most  fit.  What  is  most  fit  has  come  from 
the  principle  of  natural  selection.  Minds  have 
taken  to  themselves  what  they  wished,  and  there- 
fore selected.  One  desires  the  praise  of  men;  he 
gives  alms  ostentatiously,  and  for  a  pretense  makes 
long  prayers  at  street  corners.  Verily,  he  has  his 
reward,  the  one  he  sought.  One  man  desires 
power ;  he  wades  in  the  blood  of  the  slain  and 
climbs  up  heaps  of  dead  bodies  to  a  throne  upheld 
by  bayonets.  He  has  his  reward.  But  these 
things  are  not  worthy  of  immortality  ;  are  worthy 
of  instantaneous  annihilation.  But  suppose  a 
downtrodden  slave  gets  great  enough  to  forgive 
his  master  ;  a  private  soldier  loves  liberty  and  race 
enough  to  die  for  them  ;  some  lowly  j)^eacher  of 
whom  the  world  is  not  worthy  endures  privation, 
perils  by  land  and  sea,  among  false  brethren,  in 
prisons,  in  shipwreck,  stonings,  and  deaths  oft,  that 
he  may  preach  forgiveness  to  sinners,  purity  to  the 
vile,  immortality  to  the  dying.  These  men  are 
worth  God's  saving,  for  they  are  like  God.  Let 
the  merely  rich,  strong,  intellectual  rulers  go  into 
the  pile  of  gold,  silver,  precious  stones,  wood,  hay, 
stubble  to  be  burned  in  the  final  fire  ;  they  have 
not  selected  the  immortal  things  and  built  into  their 
D.ature  the  real  jewels  of  the  everlasting  kingdom. 
We  have  the  law  of  progress,  of  evolution,  as  a 


Its  Kelation  to  To-day  and  To-mokrow.     253 

part  of  our  necessary  life.  Not  to  adopt  progress 
and  evolution  is  to  go  back  to  deatli.  Hence,  of 
necessity  life  must  progress  forever  if  it  is  life. 
How  does  the  Bible  meet  tliis  question  of  our 
hastening  to-morrow  ?  With  satisfaction  supreme. 
First,  the  environment  is  perfect.  Poetry  and 
imagination  cannot  equal  plain  statements  of  fact 
that  Revelation  gives  us.  Gold  is  cheap  enough 
for  paving  stones ;  life  flows  in  rivers ;  bourgeons 
into  trees,  whose  mere  leaves  are  sufficient  to  heal 
the  woes  of  the  groaning  nations ;  sjDeech  is  by 
music  ;  reception  of  knowledge  and  joy  is  by  mind 
transference  ;  and  response  is  by  myriads  harping 
with  their  harps. 

!tTot  only  is  environment  perfect,  but  the  best,  in 
that  best  gathered  out  of  this  world,  is  brought  out. 
Can  soil  change  to  flowers,  carbon  to  diamonds, 
mere  grain  to  a  field  of  shimmering  wheat,  where 
the  wind  comes  to  play  and  scent  itself,  and  the 
sun  imparts  its  glory  and  power  to  beautify  and 
build  up  the  growing  grain  ?  So  the  soul  has  a  finer 
possibility  of  transformation  from  gross  to  fine. 
It  is  changed  from  glory  to  glory,  and  it  receives  in 
full  effulgence  the  transforming  glory  of  the  Lord. 

"Whatever  botany  may  teach  us  of  the  unfolding 
of  vegetable  Hfe  ;  whatever  evolution  may  tell  us 
of  animal  life  changed  from  the  amoeba  to  the 


254  The  Bible: 

man ;  whatever  philosophy  may  teach  us  of  mine) 
and  its  laws  and  destiny;  or  even  if  a  vast 
generalization  can  include  all  these  in  a  hroad 
sweep  over  continents,  and  a-  longer  one  over  all 
centuries  past,  we  will  conclude  and  hold  fast  to 
the  faith  that  the  Bible  teaches  us  with  imperial 
authority  the  science  of  social,  moral,  and  eternal 
life. 

There  is  one  man  whom  we  gladly  call  master 
and  his  greatest  admirers  call  seer  in  all  ordinary 
subjects  of  human  thought  and  expression.  He 
can  speak  of  poetry,  eloquence,  inspiration,  and 
greatness  till  we  gladly  sit  at  his  feet  in  an  ab- 
sorbed, if  not  rapturous,  delight.  Bat  when  Mr. 
Emerson  touches  immortality  he  weakens  and 
palters,  quotes  his  bright  things  from  a  Persian 
poet  and  other  men,  closing  with  a  lot  of  incompre- 
hensible fog  from  an  imaginary  heathen  deity,  till 
we  wish  he  had  never  touched  a  subject  so  utterly 
beyond  his  ability. 

But  when  we  come  to  Him  whom  all  the  world 
calls  Master  and  Lord,  and  does  well,  all  is  clear. 
All  our  conceptions  are  overpassed.  All  our 
aspirations  are  met  and  enlarged.  Immortality  is 
the  glorious  revelation  of  Christianity,  the  glorious 
discovery  of  its  author  who  brought  life  and 
immortality  to  light  by  his   Gospel.     0,  Master 


Its  Kelation  to  To-day  and  To-morkow.     255 

divine,  we  stand  with  holj  awe  before  thy  match- 
less word  and  more  matchless  self,  and  learn  the 
vastness,  height,  purity,  and  possibility  of  this  life. 
With  what  measureless  joy  we  hear  thee  say,  I  give 
eternallife  to  as  many  as  receive  me.  And  this 
eternal  life  is  to  know,  not  nature  and  men,  but 
to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ.  Ah !  now  we 
gladly  face  to-morrow.  Its  sunrise  is  as  bright  as 
was  to-day's ;  its  sunset  never  comes ;  its  over- 
arching dome  as  clear  as  Colorado  sky ;  and  all  its 
fogs  and  smokes  and  doubts  and  fears  belong  to 
yesterdays  forever  gone. 


X. 

THE  BIBLE:  WILL  MEN  OUT- 
GROW IT? 


n 


SYLLABUS. 


X.  SUBJECT— The  Bible  :  Will  Men  Out- 
grow IT? 

Eevelatton  is  made  hy  worlds  and  words. 

Have  men  outgrown  the  first  ?  We  are  in  the  mere  A,  B,  C  of  chemistry, 
astronomy,  principles  of  mathematics,  as  well  as  applied  ethics.  So 
Christ  says  his  words  shall  not  pass  away.  Why  may  they  not  be  in« 
exhaustible  as  a  mine  or  mathematics  ? 

Difficulties :  («)  The  Bible  is  old.  But  not  as  old  as  the  facts  of  chem' 
istry.  All  the  doubts  of  many  great  thinkers  have  been  perfectly 
satisfied.  ((5)  There  are  discrepancies ;  so  there  are  in  metallurgj', 
astronomy,  etc.     But  difficulties  are  vanishing. 

The  Bible  nowhere  opposes  demonstrated  science.  It  always  has  been, 
and  is  yet,  in  advance  of  our  knowledge.  Examples  :  Creation  before 
arrangement,  light  before  the  sun,  water  above  the  mountains,  order 
of  development,  rotundity  of  the  earth,  weight  of  air,  meteorology, 
etc. 

Writers  of  rude  races  ages  ago  avoided  mistake  in  the  science  of  to-day. 
It  has  the  principles  of  a  perfect  state  hereafter.  Applied  here  they 
help  to  perfect  us  now. 


X. 

THE   BIBLE:    WILL  MEN   OUTGROW  IT? 

WILL  men  outgrow  this  word  of  revelation 
and  require  another  ?  This  written  word 
is  only  a  part  of  the  revelation.  Have  they  out- 
grown the  rest?  God  is  partly  revealed  in  words 
and  partly  in  worlds.  Even  the  word  is  largely 
made  up  of  deeds,  God's  and  men's,  interpreted 
in  the  light  of  his  will.  But  have  men  outgrown 
even  the  first  word,  the  creative  ?  Who  affirms 
that  we  have  thoroughly  comprehended  this  world, 
known  its  science,  and  mastered  its  forces  ?  What 
about  our  rightful  dominion  of  the  air,  where  every 
bird  of  flight  is  a  taunt  to  our  feebleness  of  wit 
and  invention  ?  We  do  not  even  know  our  letters 
of  how  to  sail  in  air,  and  have  only  just  begun  to 
reach  for  the  rain. 

We  have  not  yet  gotten  beyond  the  first  page 
in  any  knowledge.  Chemistry  is  a  new  science. 
We  are  in  its  principles  yet.  We  are  just  getting 
excited  over  a  new  metal,  aluminium,  more  useful 
than  iron,  and  yet  to  be  found  in  every  clay  bed. 
Who  knows  what  other  metals,  more  useful  yet. 


260  The  Bible: 

may  be  found  everywhere  ?  Chemistry  is  a  ne\ 
continent  whose  first  explorers  have  barely  touched 
the  shores  of  its  outlying  islands.  When  we  went 
up  from  all  the  telescope  could  tell  us  to  the  higher 
revelations  of  the  spectroscope,  did  we  exhaust  all 
that  light  could  do  for  us  ?  By  no  means.  The 
heavens  are  an  oj)en  book  indeed,  but  in  six  thou- 
sand years  men  have  scarcely  gotten  beyond  the 
A  B  abs. 

What  do  you  know  of  mathematics  ?  Have  you 
exhausted  the  subject,  or  has  it  exhausted  you  ?  If 
you  think  you  have  learned  all  there  is,  I  w^ould 
turn  you  over  to  Professor  Howe  to  take  you 
through  the  theories  of  magic  squares,  and,  leaving 
differential  and  integral  calculus  as  mere  primaries, 
go  on  to  the  calculus  of  variations.  A  new  method 
of  calculating  iN'aperian  logarithms  has  been  just 
discovered 

The  man  who  dreams  that  man  has  outgrown 
this  world  in  the  realm  of  mastery  of  forces,  knowl- 
edge of  chemistry,  astronomy,  mathematics,  music, 
poetry,  ideas  and  their  expression,  is  only  a  dreamer. 
Nay,  he  probably  has  never  been  awake.  The  world 
is  not  a  washed  out  placer,  but  it  is  all  one  great 
Creede  and  Cripple  Creek  awaiting  prospector 
and  miner. 

The  reason  why  men  ever  think  of  outgrowing 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  2G1 

the  Bible  is  because  tliej  outgrow  themselves  and 
one  another.  But  when  they  try  themselves  on 
the  least  of  God's  revelations  it  is  so  infinite  that 
they  confess  themselves  but  tyros  and  beginners. 

If  the  first  revelation  of  worlds  cannot  be  out- 
grown, can  we  outgrow  the  one  of  words?  Ev- 
idently the  Autlior  does  not  think  so.  He  says, 
"  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words 
shall  not  pass  away." 

Jesus  here  puts  forth  for  his  word  the  claim  of 
perpetuity.  He  has  been  sketching  a  rapidly 
changing  panorama.  Delusions,  pestilences,  eartli- 
quakes,  famines,  armies,  battles,  sieges,  flights,  be- 
trayals, captures,  nationalities  pass.  He  glances 
beyond  the  endurance  of  temple  foundations  to 
the  end  of  the  solid  earth  and  the  long-enduring 
stars,  and,  closing  the  picture,  says,  "  Heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass 
away."  A  breath  that  dies  outlives  the  solid 
rock !  It  is  sublime.  Believe  or  disbelieve  it,  it  is 
sublime. 

It  is  no  new  assertion  concerning  God's  wordc 
"The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  but  the 
word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever."  In  varying 
forms  of  words  God  constantly  reiterates  this  un- 
varying idea. 

You  may  have  heard  of  the  words  of  men  that 


262  The  Bible: 

were  not  so  permanent.  They  dig  deep  and  lay 
their  foundations  on  eternal  principles,  as  they 
think.  They  set  up  their  columns  of  beauty  and 
truth,  span  the  spaces  between  them  with  arches 
of  glory,  on  which  they  blazon  ^^esto  jperjpetuaP 
But  the  morning  of  a  new  day  breaks,  new  light 
arises,  and  these  structures  of  a  semi-night  waver 
and  vanish  like  the  baseless  fabrics  of  a  dream. 

Seeing  that  no  intellectual  system  long  survives, 
some  men  have  said,  "  The  Bible  must  be  out- 
grown ;  it  is  the  product  of  a  rude  age,  it  can  never 
hold  its  place  in  ages  of  culture.  Shall  the  schemes 
and  plans  of  infancy  fetter  the  free  foot  of  vigor- 
ous manhood?  Shall  vain  babj^-clutchings  for  the 
candle  prevent  the  man  from  reaching  the  stars  ? 
Shall  there  be  no  progress  ?  ^ay,  rather  let  the 
feeble  stars  of  morning  die  out  in  the  brighter 
blaze  of  day.     Koom  for  the  new  lights." 

So  say  I,  if  the  Bible  be  only  a  human  produc- 
tion. Any  human,  intellectual  system  must  fall 
behind,  be  outgrown,  and  find  its  appropriate  place 
in  the  museums  of  the  curiosities  of  former  days. 

But  what  if  it  be  divine  f  What  if  it  be  a  mine 
but  partially  developed,  crowded  with  riches  for 
man's  every  poverty,  wisdom  for  his  ignorance, 
strength  for  his  weakness,  light  for  his  gloom,  joy 
for  his  sadness,  purity  for  his  sin,  life  for  his  death  ? 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  263 

What  if  it  be  a  stream  running  through  ages  unex- 
hausted, full  to  the  banks  of  the  water  of  life? 
Impossible,  do  you  saj  ?  No,  it  is  not.  Streams 
are  kept  full  for  centuries,  and  they  bear  the  pala- 
tial steamer  as  easily  as  the  savage  on  his  log. 
There  is  a  system  of  worlds  about  us,  suns,  planets, 
satellites,  without  number.  Some  scientists  will 
tell  you  that  they  revolve  through  eons  measureless 
to  man,  that  they  pass  through  innumerable  changes, 
have  multitudinous  periods  of  flora  and  fauna,  and 
all  these  inexplicable  changes  provided  for  in  the 
fiery  star  dust  of  a  cloud.  Such  men  ought  to 
have  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  of  a  moral  system, 
devised  by  the  same  Author,  to  last  through  eight- 
een centuries  or  eighteen  thousand. 

If  the  Bible  be  human,  set  it  up  in  the  library 
among  other  books.  But  if  it  be  divine,  lift  it  up 
on  high,  wide  open,  and  let  men  look  to  it  for  light, 
power,  purity,  life,  and  in  all  ages,  present  and  to 
come.  Its  adaptation  for  this  is  less  difficult  than 
the  adaptation  of  worlds  for  their  changes.  !N"ow, 
is  it  divine  ?  That  it  is  in  the  fullest  extent,  *'  I 
steadfastly  believe ;  and  this  will  I  maintain  with 
body,  soul,  and  honor,"  as  the  old  knights  used  to 
say. 

I  have  not  come  to  this  conclusion  without  a 
struggle.     Such  a  land  of  Beulah  is  not  reached 


264  The  Bibl*). 

except  by  the  Slougli  of  Despond,  the  Valley  of 
Humiliation,  the  suggestions  of  Worldly  Wiseman, 
and  sore  fights  with  Apollyon.  When  1  was  born 
into  the  intellectual  world  faith  was  scouted  and 
science  proclaimed  as  the  only  ground  of  assurance. 
The  same  assaults  came  to  me  that  come  to  every 
youth,  but  I  outlived  them  as  I  did  the  whooping 
cough,  measles,  and  mumps.  And  from  a  vivid 
remembrance  of  the  doleful  continuance  of  the 
miserable  maladies  I  stand  ready  to  extend  sym- 
pathy and  help  to  every  young  man  who  is  passing 
through  a  like  sad  experience. 

There  are  difficulties  in  the  way  of  allowing  the 
claims  of  the  Bible,  It  is  very  old,  and  antiquity 
affects  credibility.  Credibility  decreases  in  geo- 
metrical ratio  as  antiquity  increases  by  arithmetical. 
The  intensity  of  light  is  inversely  as  the  square  of 
the  distance.  Respect  for  what  is  ancient  is  not  a 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  this  age ;  and  with 
good  reason.  Besides,  the  Bible  makes  the  largest 
demands  for  reverence  and  obedience.  It  teems 
with  doctrines  extremely  distasteful  to  the  natural 
heart,  denounces  things  men  love,  and  humiliates 
man's  pride  to  a  degree  attempted  by  no  other 
book. 

Hence,  men  are  eager  to  reject  its  claims  and 
cast  off  its  authority.     Such  men  are  not  fit  for 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  265 

witnesses.  They  are  retained  advocates  on  the 
other  side.  That  they  have  succeeded  in  picking 
flaws  in  its  indictments,  cross-questioning  its  wit- 
nesses into  confusion,  antagonizing  it  to  another 
law  written  in  their  own  hearts,  and  constraining 
a  jury  like-minded  and  interested  to  bring  in  a 
verdict  of  "  not  proven,"  is  not  in  the  least  surpris- 
ing. The  contrary  would  amaze  us.  If  a  man 
feels  an  inclination  to  be  skeptical,  why  must  he 
always  fling  abroad  his  doubts  about  religion  ?  Let 
him  try  his  genius  on  steam  engineering.  There 
are  inconsistencies  and  explosions  enough.  Or  let 
him  try  his  doubts  against  mathematics.  There  is 
plenty  of  liberty,  for  men  have  doubted  whether 
there  is  a  material  world  or  a  sensible  pain. 

To  this  dire  emergency  God  has  not  been  indif- 
ferent. He  has  brought  up  fresh  witnesses — old 
stone  statues  that  could  not  be  stared  out  of  coun- 
tenance ;  monuments  that  could  not  be  browbeaten ; 
agreements  of  testimony  that  could  not  be  gain- 
said. 0  !  Egypt,  Nineveh,  Babylon — names  sug- 
gestive of  death — ^you  never  lived  to  so  grand  a 
purpose  as  to-day ;  you  authenticate  God's  revela- 
tion ;  you  reaffirm  God's  authority.  God  has  gath- 
ered up  authentication  from  the  very  borders  of 
the  chaos  of  the  primal  world,  from  the  graves  of 
perished  empires,  from  the  strata  of  the  earth,  and 


266  .  The  Bible: 

from  the  stars  in  their  courses,  and  to-daj  declares 
as  never  before,  "  I  am  God  ;  the  Bible  is  my  rev- 
elation and  law  for  man." 

There  are  answers  that  have  satisfied  every  doubt 
in  men  of  purest  lives  and  clearest  heads ;  answers 
that  grevv^  fuller  and  more  complete  as  they  studied 
and  tried  the  word  through  long  lives,  and  which 
put  to  flight  every  shade  of  doubt  as  they  came  to 
the  final  test.  There  may  be  men  who  cannot  sat- 
isfy themselves  with  the  answers  that  have  satisfied 
Kewton,  Milton,  Herschel,  Bishop  Butler,  and  the 
magnificent  development  of  German  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  mind  to-day.  What  stature  these  men  may 
have  we  cannot  tell,  but  if  they  be  not  like  the 
man  who  always  got  on  the  jury  with  eleven  very 
obstinate  men,  we  tell  them  they  may  be  satisfied. 
God  lias  enabled  man  to  double  the  evidences  for 
his  word  in  a  century.  And  there  is  enough  in 
the  infinity  behind  to  fill  all  their  wise,  or  other- 
wise, minds.  Study  the  evidences  with  heart  as 
well  as  head,  and  not  haggle  over  a  thousand  dif- 
ficulties that  may  prove  imaginary,  like  a  thousand 
other  vanished  difliculties,  and  you  may  have  a  vital 
and  vivifying  conviction  of  the  grandest  fact  of  the 
world,  namely,  that  God  has  spoken  to  men. 

Lines  of  proof  run  in,  like  light  to  a  blazing 
center,  from  fulfilled  prophecy,  from  the  historic 


Will  Men  Outgkow  It?  267 

confirmations  of  the  nations  named  above,  from 
incidental  coincidences,  and  from  the  amazing 
fields  of  science.  There  are  yet  difliculties  un- 
solved, discrepancies  unliarmonized,  questions  of 
enemies  unanswered  by  the  friends  of  the  Bible. 
But  these  difiiculties  are  but  spots  on  the  sun,  seen 
only  by  telescopic  or  microscopic  criticism,  many 
of  them  defects  in  the  glass,  while  the  sun  blazes 
with  ineffable  light  and  vivifies  a  vast  creation. 
We  accept  the  sun ;  we  accept  the  Bible. 

When  iN^ewton  discovered  the  law  of  gravitation 
there  were  certain  inexplicable  facts  which  could 
neither  be  denied  nor  harmonized  with  a  law  of 
universal  gravitation.  Nevertheless,  he  accepted 
and  declared  the  law.  And  men  have  accepted 
and  declared  him  as  the  discoverer  of  tlie  grandest 
law  in  the  universe. 

Since  tliat  time  some  of  those  discrepancies  have 
been  harmonized.  Nay,  those  very  discrepancies 
have  led  to  some  of  the  most  astounding  discov- 
eries and  revelations  of  God's  knowledge  that 
man's  knowledge  has  made.  Some  of  the  difliculties 
yet  remain  unsolved,  and  will  do  so  till  men  shall 
Lave  added  many  a  cubit  to  their  mental  stature. 
Nevertheless,  all  sensible  men  accept  the  law  of 
gravitation  as  universal. 

Well  has  Tyndall  said,  "  Nature  is  full  of  anom- 


268  The  Bible: 

alies  which  no  foresight  can  predict.  From  the 
deportment  of  a  vast  number  of  bodies  we  should 
conclude  that  heat  always  produces  expansion,  and 
cold  contraction.  But  water  steps  in,  and  bismuth 
steps  in,  to  qualify  this  conclusion." 

What  shall  we  do  then  ?  Deny  the  law  ?  Dis- 
pute the  evident  facts?  Kefuse  to  act  on  what 
we  do  know?  Not  if  we  are  sane.  Accept  the 
law,  act  upon  the  facts,  and  carry  along  all  excep- 
tional instances  till  a  higher  generalization  shall 
help  us  rise  to  a  law  broad  enough  to  embrace  all 
the  facts. 

Now  when  we  ascend  far  above  all  principality 
and  power  of  material  science,  to  those  things  that 
are  to  stand  and  flourish  in  immortal  youth  when 
short-lived  worlds  have  passed  away,  shall  we  not 
expect  to  find  some  apparent  exceptions  to  our 
statements  of  laws  ?  Shall  we  not  surely  stumble 
on  facts  refusing  to  be  classified  and  generalized  ? 
Especially  when  we  introduce  the  element  of  free 
will,  with  its  necessary  ability  to  break  and  defy 
all  moral  law,  shall  we  not  expect  to  find  constant 
and,  to  us,  irreconcilable  exceptions  to  what  we 
should  suppose  to  be  universal  law  ?  If  we  do  not, 
one  of  two  things  must  be  true :  that  we  are  in- 
finitely wise,  and  able  to  comprehend  the  infinite 
varieties  that  would  arise  under  such  a  law— and 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  269 

not  even  that  presumption  that  would  rush  where 
angels  fear  to  tread  is  equal  to  asserting  this — or 
there  is  no  infinity  to  defy  and  surpass  our  com- 
prehension. But  we  know  there  are  heights  that 
are  summitless  to  us ;  depths  where  all  our  thoughts 
are  drowned.  And  we  who  have  had  plain  state- 
ments of  facts  lie  right  before  us  in  the  Bible,  all 
unknown,  because  we  are  not  wise  enough  to  com- 
prehend them,  and  who  see  other  plain  statements 
just  as  difiicult  to  understand,  yet  unsolved  before 
us,  will  do  well  to  be  modest. 

We  rejoice  to  live  in  a  day  when  the  difficulties 
of  material  science  are  vanishing.  The  inscrutable 
things  that  defied  our  fathers  are  being  read.  The 
blazonry  of  the  sky  is  being  unfolded.  The  records 
of  the  rocks  are  being  understood.  But  each  wall 
of  difficulty  that  falls  down  reveals  a  higher  and  a 
darker  one  behind.  The  rebel  ram  crashed  through 
the  Ciimherland,  but  it  found  the  Monitor  behind 
her.  And  while  astronomers  and  scientists  have 
scaled  or  mined  a  few  outworks  of  the  earth  and 
skies,  more  impregnable  fortresses  loom  up  beyond. 

But  let  me  say  about  the  difiiculties  that  have 
beset  the  Bible,  It  is  quite  the  reverse.  Did  you 
hear  that  ?  It  ought  to  have  brought  an  answering 
shout.  Hear  it  again.  Hear  it,  bold  infidel,  proph- 
esying the  downfall  of  Christianity.    Hear  it,  priest 


270  The  Bible: 

of  Baal,  uttering  things  against  the  truth  of  God. 
Hear  it,  earnest  student  desiring  the  truth,  that 
the  truth  may  make  you  free.  Hear  it,  timid 
believer,  fearing  that  the  bold  words  of  Christ's 
enemies  may  be  grounded  on  fact.  Hear  it,  firm 
believer  in  Christ's  word,  that  "  the  Scripture  can- 
not be  broken."  No  new  obstacles  to  the  reception 
of  the  Bible  as  GocTs  word  have  "been  discovered 
in  a  century.  Explorations  of  tropics  and  poles, 
exhumations  of  buried  cities  and  of  buried  geologic 
eras,  borings  of  crust,  soarings  in  air,  studies  amid 
the  astronomic  marvels  of  infinite  space,  searchings 
of  history,  pryings  of  acute  criticism,  assaults  of 
malignity^  have  all  equally  failed  to  find  obstacles 
to  a  belief  in  the  Bible  as  God's  w^ord.  IS'ay, 
many  obstacles  that  existed  a  century  ago  have 
been  thrown  down ,  many  clouds  that  then  obscured 
the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory  have  been 
pierced ;  they  have  taken  their  sable  fringes  off  a 
widening  landscape,  revealing  glorious  day. 

Marshal  the  hostile  critics  of  the  Bible.  Parade 
your  battalions.  Bring  out  your  Strauss,  Colenso, 
Parker,  and  Kenan.  They  are  everyone  of  them 
urging  objections  old  as  the  gospels.  We  are  not 
ignorant  of  these  devices,  nor  of  him  who  inspires 
them.  Gospel  genealogies,  discrepancies  of  state- 
ments, variations  of  manuscripts,  the  difierence  be- 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  271 

tween  the  Jesus  of  John  and  of  Mark,  the  difference 
between  the  law  and  the  Gospel,  are  no  new  words, 
Parker  is  a  rehash  of  the  cold  remains  of  Strauss — 
and  of  all  things  in  the  world  cold  hashes  are  the 
most  unpalatable.  Strauss  is  a  rehash  of  the  cold 
remains  of  the  gnostics  of  the  first  century.  Paul 
met  all  these  ghostly  enemies  in  the  lists,  and  they 
all  went  down  at  the  touch  of  his  spear.  Every 
triumph  of  Christ  has  been  won  over  the  battered 
defenses  of  these  assaulters.  Few  as  have  been 
the  days  of  most  of  us,  we  well  remember  the  din 
of  these  battles.  What  war  cries  we  have  heard  ! 
"  Geological  Eons,"  "  Chronology  of  Confucius," 
"  Hieroglyphics  of  Egypt,"  "  Zodiacs  of  Dendera 
and  E§neh,-'  ^'Pottery  of  the  ISTile,"  "Stone 
Implements,"  "  Cave  Bears,"  "  Kitchen  Refuse 
Heaps,"  "  Skull  from  Calaveras  County,"  and 
"  Heels  of  Simla."  Again  and  again  the  din  rises, 
the  battle  is  joined,  bulletins  of  victory  flash  into 
all  lands.  But  these  victories  have  been  like  those 
of  the  French  over  the  Germans.  An  advantage 
in  a  skirmish  for  an  hour,  and  withering,  annihilat- 
ing defeat  by  the  year. 

How  does  the  Bible  repel  these  assaults  ?  We 
have  only  time  to  consider  a  single  department. 
Let  it  be  that  of  science.  Years  of  discussion  have 
established  these  two  principles : 


272  The  Bible: 

I.  The  Bible  nowhere  ojpjposes  demonstrated 
science. 

II.  The  Bible  always  has  teen,  and  is  yet^  far 
in  advance  of  the  attainments  of  science^  even  in 
advance  of  man's  ability  to  understand  its  plain 
declarations. 

These  are  very  remarkable  propositions.  If  tbey 
are  maintained  tliere  is  no  more  ground  for  conten- 
tion.   There  must  be  wisdom  from  God  in  its  pages. 

The  Bible  was  written  in  ages  of  ignorance  of 
the  sciences  of  to-day  by  unlearned  men,  in  great 
part,  and  it  would  be  simply  impossible  to  avoid 
statements  in  opposition  to  the  knowledge  and  dis- 
coveries of  to-day.  Even  wise  men  could  not  do 
it.  Pythagoras  and  the  wise  men  of  liis  day 
taught  that  the  earth  was  flat.  And  the  wise  men 
of  our  day  have  taught  within  the  remembrance 
of  many  of  us  that  marine  shells  found  in  the 
high  mountains  were  proof  of  the  Noahcian  del- 
uge. Yoltaire  showed  his  fitness  to  lead  a  scientific 
assault  on  the  Bible  by  declaring  that  these  shells 
were  brought  to  their  places  in  the  mountains  by 
the  crowds  of  pilgrims  from  the  Holy  Land !  In- 
deed, there  is  hardly  an  established  truth  in  science 
to-day  concerning  which  men  have  not  uttered 
many  erroneous  oj^inions.  I  do  not  affirm  that  the 
Bible  does  not  speak  of  some  things  according  to 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  2T3 

visual  appearance,  as  the  sunrise  and  sunset ;  but 
our  nautical  almanacs  and  other  scientific  treatises 
do  the  same  thing  to-daj.  I  do  not  deny  that  some 
interpretations  and  even  translations  of  the  Scrip- 
ture have  been  contradictory  to  demonstrated  sci- 
ence. For  how  can  we  truly  translate  from  a  for- 
eign language  things  we  could  not  understand  if 
written  plainly  in  our  own  ?  It  needs  knowledge 
to  read  scientific  statements.  But  uniformly  that 
translation  which  has  harmonized  with  science  has 
been  found  to  be  the  truer  one.  Indeed,  the  transla- 
tions of  many  scriptural  texts  have  been  very  difficult, 
because  we  lacked  the  knowledge  to  make  their 
signification  seem  possible  to  our  thought.  Dis- 
covering the  scientific  truth,  we  returned  to  the 
Scripture,  and  its  meaning  was  clear  as  sunlight. 
Several  passages  which  seemed  when  fairly  trans- 
lated to  teach  error,  or  to  be  poetical  flights,  have 
since  been  proved  to  be  statements  of  literal  facts. 
The  Bible  has  been  routed  from  many  a  position  it 
never  held,  and  discovered  to  be  impregnably  in- 
trenched after  its  rout  had  been  heralded.  This 
will  repeatedly  appear  in  illustrating  the  second 
proposition.  That  the  Bible  could  avoid  error  pro- 
claims that  God  was  in  all  its  writing.  How  much 
more  that  it  could  always  be  in  advance  of  science 

and  discovery! 
18 


274  The  Bible: 

Let  us  see  if  this  second  proposition  is  capable 
of  proof.  The  Bible  has  asserted  from  the  first 
that  creation  of  matter  preceded  arrangement.  It 
was  chaos,  void,  without  form,  darkness.  Arrange- 
ment was  a  subsequent  matter.  The  world  was 
not  created  in  the  form  it  was  to  have.  It  was  to 
be  molded,  shaped,  stratified,  mountained,  and 
valleyed  subsequently.  All  of  which  science  utters 
ages  afterward. 

The  Bible  has  been  sneered  at  a  thousand  years 
for  saying  that  light  existed  before  the  sun  was  out- 
lined and  limited.  But  now  men  are  praised  for 
asserting  the  same  thing.  Peans  are  sung  to  La 
Place  that  belong  to  God,  and  which  are  sung  to 
God  by  angels,  and  all  others  who  know  that  the 
Bible  is  older  science  than  the  Mecanique  Celeste. 

It  is  a  recently  elucidated  idea  of  science  that 
the  strata  of  the  earth  were  formed  by  the  action 
of  water,  and  the  mountains  were  once  under  the 
ocean.  It  is  an  idea  long  familiar  to  Bible  read- 
ers. "  Thou  coveredst  the  earth  with  the  deep,  as 
with  a  garment.  The  waters  stood  above  the 
mountains.  At  thy  rebuke  they  fled  ;  at  the  voice 
of  thy  thunder  they  hasted  away.  The  moun- 
tains ascend,  the  valleys  descend  unto  the  place 
thou  hast  founded  for  them."  The  whole  volume 
of  geology  is  a  paragraph.     The  thunder  of  con 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  275 

tinental  convulsions  is  God's  voice.  The  moun- 
tains rise  by  God's  power.  The  waters  haste  away 
to  the  place  God  appointed  for  them. 

Volumes  of  demonstrations  of  the  impossibility 
of  the  deluge  might  have  been  saved  if  men  had 
been  willing  to  read  the  explanations  of  God  by 
Peter:  "For  of  this  they  are  willingly  ignorant y 
that  by  the  word  of  God  there  were  heavens  of 
old,  and  land  framed  out  of  water  and  by  means 
of  water :  Avhereby  the  world  that  then  was,  being 
overflowed  by  water,  perished  ;  " — a  geological 
subsidence — "  but  the  heavens  that  now  are,  and 
the  land," — the  present  geological  upheaval — "  by 
his  word  are  kept  for  fire,"  etc.  Every  difficulty 
vanishes.  It  is  a  single  sentence  of  geologic  his- 
tory, foretold  and  arranged  by  God  for  a  specific 
time  and  purpose,  and  no- more  difficult  than  upheav- 
als and  subsidences  that  have  occurred  in  our  day. 

Science  exults  to  have  discovered  what  it  is 
pleased  to  call  an  order  of  development  on  the  earth 
— tender  grass,  herb,  tree,  moving  creatures  that  have 
life  in  the  waters,  bird,  reptile,  beast,  cattle,  man. 
God  calls  the  same  order  of  succession  his  creation. 
Marvelous  discoveries !  God's  statement  of  the 
order  of  creation  is  far  more  consonant,  period  by 
period,  with  a  proper  summary  of  geologic  systems 
than  any  two  authors  are  with  each  other. 


276  The  Bible: 

Ages  on  ages  man's  wisdom  held  the  earth  to  be 
flat.  Meanwhile,  God  was  saying,  century  after 
century,  of  himself,  *'  He  sitteth  upon  the  sphere 
of  the  earth  "  (Gesenius). 

Men  racked  their  feeble  wits  for  expedients  to 
uphold  the  earth,  and  the  best  they  could  devise 
were  serpents,  elephants,  and  turtles ;  and  further 
than  they  went  no  one  had  ever  gr  ne  to  see  what  sup- 
ported them.  Meanwhile,  God  was  per2)etually  tell- 
ing men  that  he  had  hung  the  earth  upon  nothing. 

The  ancients  thought  surrounding  space  was 
filled  with  darkness,  growing  denser  as  one  went 
from  the  earth.  The  Bible  always  said,  "  God  filled 
all  and  in  all,  and  he  covered  himself  with  light." 
Science  has  been  compelled  to  teach  the  same. 

Men  were  ever  trying  to  number  the  stars.  Hip- 
parchus  counted  1,022 ;  Ptolemy,  1,026.  And  it  is 
easy  to  number  those  visible  to  the  naked  eye. 
But  the  Bible  said  that  they  were  as  the  sands  of 
the  sea,  "  innumerable."  Science  has  appliances 
of  enumeration  unknown  to  other  ages,  but  the 
space-penetrating  telescopes  reveal  more  worlds ; 
eighteen  millions  in  a  single  system,  and  systems 
beyond  count,  till  men  acknowledge  that  the  stars 
are  innumerable  to  man.  It  is  God's  prerogative 
to  "number  all  the  stars.  He  also  calleth  them  all 
by  their  names." 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  277 

Torricelli's  discovery,  that  the  air  had  weight, 
was  received  with  incredulity.  For  ages  the  air 
had  propelled  ships,  thrust  itself  against  the  bodies 
of  men,  and  overturned  their  works.  But  no  man 
ever  dreamed  that  weight  was  necessary  to  give 
momentum.  During  all  the  centuries  it  had  stood 
in  the  Bible,  waiting  for  man's  comprehension : 
"  He  gave  to  the  air  its  weight "  (Job  xxviii,  25). 

The  pet  science  of  to-day  is  meteorology.  The 
fluctuations  and  variations  of  the  weather  have 
hitherto  baffled  all  attempts  at  unraveling.  It  has 
seemed  that  there  was  nc  •  law  in  the  fickle  changes. 
But  at  length  perseverance  and  skill  have  tri- 
umphed, and  a  single  man  in  one  place  predicts 
the  weather  and  winds  for  a  continent.  But  the 
Bible  has  always  insisted  that  the  whole  depart- 
ment was  under  law.  l^ay,  it  Laid  down  that  law 
so  clearly  that,  if  men  had  been  willing  to  learn 
from  it,  they  might  have  reached  this  wisdom 
ages  ago.  The  whole  moral  law  is  not  more 
clearly  crystallized  in,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,"  than  all  the  fundamentals  of  the  science 
of  meteorology  are  crystallized  in  this  word : 
"  The  wind  goetli  toward  the  south  [equator],  and 
turneth  about  [up]  unto  the  north ;  it  whirleth 
about  continually,  and    the  wind  returnetli  again 


278  The  Bible: 

according  to  his  circuits  [established  routes].  All 
the  rivers  run  into  the  sea ;  yet  the  sea  is  not  full : 
unto  the  place  from  whence  the  rivers  come,  thither 
they  return  again  "  (Eccles.  i,  6,  Y). 

That  the  central  parts  of  the  earth  were  molten 
fire  was  received  with  great  hesitation ;  and  even 
now,  after  numerous  proofs,  is  bj  some  minds 
hotly  contested.  But  God  knows,  and  he  says, 
"  Out  of  the  earth  cometh  bread,  but  at  the 
same  time  underneath,  it  turns  itself  as  tire  "  (Job 
xxviii,  5).  Long  before  it  was  supposed  that 
rock  could  be  melted  the  Bible  declared  that 
"the  hills  melted  like  wax."  "  Poetic  figure,"  says 
the  rhetorician.  "  Literal  truth,"  says  the  laborious 
chemist. 

The  Bible  says,  "  The  heavens  shall  pass  away 
with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt 
with  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also  and  the  works 
that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up."  "Possi- 
ble, but  we  cannot  foretell  surely,"  says  the  sci- 
entist. "  Possible  and  surely,"  says  the  Christian, 
"  for  the  word  of  our  God  standeth  sure." 

Those  scientific  queries  with  which  God  con- 
founded Job  were  unanswerable  then ;  most  of 
them  are  so  now.  They  not  only  put  the  knife 
into  Job  every  time,  but  they  would  put  the  knife 
to   the   hilt   into  any  scientist  to-day.     "Who  is 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  279 

this  that  darkeneth  counsel  by  words  without 
knowledge?  Whereon  are  the  sockets  of  the 
earth  made  to  sink  ? "  Job  never  knew  the  earth 
turned  in  sockets.  Mucli  less  could  he  tell  where 
they  were  fixed.  God  answered  this  question 
elsewhere.  '*  He  stretcheth  the  nortli  [one  socket] 
over  the  empty  place,  and  hangeth  the  earth  upon 
nothing."  Speaking  of  the  day-spring,  God  says 
the  earth  is  turned  to  it,  as  clay  to  the  seal.  The 
earth's  axial  revolution  is  clearly  recognized. 
Galileo  declared  it  early.     God  earlier. 

!N"o  man  yet  understands  the  balancing  of  the 
clouds,  nor  the  suspension  of  the  frozen  masses  of 
hail,  any  more  than  Job  did. 

Had  God  asked  if  he  had  perceived  the  length 
of  the  earth,  many  a  man  of  to-day  could  have 
answered  yes.  But  the  eternal  ice  keeps  us  from 
perceiving  the  "breadth  of  earth,  and  shows  the 
discriminating  wisdom  of  the  question. 

That  light  makes  music  in  its  passage  is  asserted 
by  God  to  Job ;  by  science,  more  than  three  thou- 
sand years  afterward.  Poets  Shakespeare,  Bjtou, 
Milton,  Addison,  Mrs.  Browning,  Willis,  and 
others,  have  uttered  the  conception  as  a  fancy ; 
the  Bible  and  science  as  fact.  The  world  is  a  gol- 
conda  of  gems.  Beautiful  the  thought  and  words 
of  him  who  mines  it. 


280  The  Bible: 

"There's  not  the  smallest  orb  that  thou  beholdest, 
But  in  his  motion  like  an  angel  sings." — A.  D.  1596  (?). 
"The  morning  stars  sang  together." — 3000  years  earlier. 

God's  statement  that  the  sun's  "  going  is  from  tlie 
end  of  the  heaven,  and  his  circuit  unto  the  ends 
of  it,"  has  given  edge  to  many  a  sneer  at  its  sup- 
posed assertion  that  the  sun  went  round  the  earth. 
It  teaches  a  higher  truth.  Let  pigmies  learn  the 
truth  of  alpine  proportions,  that  the  sun  itself 
is  but  a  superior  planet,  and  flies  in  a  path  of 
eighteen  millions  of  years,  from  one  end  of  the 
heavens  to  the  other.  Confounded  Job,  a  puny 
sick  man,  could  answer  nothing  when  asked  if  he 
could  bind  the  sweet  influences  of  the  Pleiades. 
He  did  not  know  what  their  power  was.  Infinitely 
less  could  he  bind  it.  What  the  immediately  suc- 
ceeding questions  mean,  we  have  no  conception. 
"What  it  is  to  loose  the  bands  of  Orion,  bring  forth 
Mazzaroth,  or  guide  Arcturus,  we  cannot  tell,  for 
we  *'  know  not  the  ordinances  of  heaven."  ''  Shall 
he  that  contendeth  with  the  Almighty  instruct 
him  ?    He  that  reproveth  God,  let  him  answer  it." 

No  wonder  Job  said,  "  I  am  vile.  I  cannot 
answer  questions  of  God's  material  works,  and  I 
have  presumed  to  sit  in  judgment  on  his  moral 
government.  I  will  lay  my  hand  upon  my  mouth. 
Once  have  I  spoken ;  yea,  twice ;  but  I  will  pro- 
ceed no  further." 


Will  Men  Outgrow  It?  281 

When  I  hear  so  eminent  an  astronomer  and  so 
true  a  Christian  as  Mitchell,  who  understood  the 
voices  in  which  the  heavens  declare  the  glory  of 
God  as  his  own  vernacular  tongue,  who  read  the 
significance  of  God's  embodied  word  with  delight, 
and  who  fed  upon  God's  written  word  as  his  daily 
bread — when  I  hear  him  declare,  "  We  find  an 
aptness  and  propriety  in  all  these  astronomical 
illustrations  which  are  not  weakened,  but  amazingly 
strengthened,  when  viewed  in  the  full  light  of  our 
present  knowledge ; "  when  I  hear  Ilerschel  de- 
clare, "All  human  discoveries  seem  to  be  made 
only  for  the  purpose  of  confirming  more  strongly 
the  truths  that  come  from  on  high,  and  are  con- 
tained in  the  sacred  writings,"  I  ask.  Who  is  he 
that  declares  that  the  Bible  and  science  are  at  va- 
riance ?  I  shall  probably  find  that  he  is  ignorant 
of  both.  God  has  scattered  brief  notes  of  his 
works  in  the  Bible.  Man's  discoveries  are  but 
illustration  and  comment. 

Whatever  point  we  touch  sheds  confirmation 
on  the  book  whose  light, 

* '  Expanding  with  the  expanding  soul, 
Shall  evermore  illumine  the  world." 

In  it  must  be  the  wisdom  of  omniscience;  be- 
hind it  the  mind  that  knows  the  end  from  the  be- 
ginning.    Men  seem  to  discover  truth  by  exhaust- 


282  The  Bible: 

ing  all  possible  errors.  God  writes  truth  at  first. 
Men  come  to  it  after  ages  of  wandering  in  mazes 
of  ignorance.  "  The  wise  men  are  ashamed,  they 
are  dismayed  and  taken  :  lo,  they  have  rejected  the 
word  of  the  Lord ;  and  what  wisdom  is  in  them  ? " 

There  are  more  capabilities  of  matter,  greater 
ranges  of  arrangement,  than  we  have  discovered. 
There  were  greater  significances  in  the  parable 
than  the  Jews  perceived.  Some  of  the  greatest 
possibilities  of  mathematics  have  just  been  wrought 
out.  "We  have  seen  that  the  prophesies  have  had, 
and  will  have,  repeated  and  enlarged  fulfillment. 
"We  are  told  that  the  perfect  application  of  the 
principles  of  the  Bible  will  result  in  a  perfect  state 
hereafter.  And  we  may  surely  say  that  their  ap- 
plication here  would  result  in  greatly  perfecting 
our  present  state.  There  is  yet  more  light  to 
break  out  of  the  word. 

But  what  care  we  for  these  clear  demonstra- 
tions that  God  inspired  this  word  from  his  own 
wisdom?  "What  if  every  discovery  of  the  past 
were  anticipated  in  the  Bible?  Nay,  what  if 
everyone  of  the  future  be  hidden  in  the  word,  as 
it  is  in  the  worlds  ?  Much  abstractedly,  little 
relatively.  Compared  with  its  sublimer  truth,  its 
diviner  possibilities,  its  revelations  concerning 
man,   infinitely   richer  than    can   be    concerning 


Will  Men  Outgkow  It?  283 

nature,  these  things  are  only  as  the  cotton  bags  to 
the  gold  they  hold ;  only  as  the  envelopes  to  the 
precious  missives  of  friendship  and  love ;  only  as 
letters  of  introduction  to  the  friends  they  bring 
us.  We  cast  envelope  and  note  into  the  waste- 
basket.  We  feed  on  letters ;  we  clasp  friends  to 
our  hearts,  to  be  a  joy  in  prosperity,  a  help  in  ad- 
versity, a  blessedness  forever.  So  let  the  forego- 
ing words  inclose  the  real  gold  to  be  your  eternal 
treasure  ;  inclose  the  epistles  of  a  loving  father  to 
prodigal  or  dutiful  sons ;  introduce  you  to  the 
Friend  that  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother. 

But  some  men  declare  that  they  have  outgrown 
it.  What !  outgrown  the  only  scheme  whose  ideal 
is  the  perfection  of  every  power  and  attribute  of 
man  ;  that  has  power  and  endless  life  to  help  man ! 
They  outgrew  its  principles  of  honesty  first.  And 
where  are  they  ?  Part  of  them  in  prison,  and  the 
rest  ought  to  be.  We  want  none  of  that  growth. 
It  is  hunchbacked,  and  not  straight.  Some  free 
lovers  have  outgrown  its  principles  of  chastity. 
We  want  none  of  that  growth.  It  is  satyr-hoofed, 
bandy-kneed,  and  squint-eyed.  Paris  outgrew  its 
principles  of  family  relation  and  obedience  to  law. 
Fire,  blood,  crumbling  of  egg-shell  defenses,  and 
an  orgie  of  crime  resulted.  We  want  none  of  that. 
It  is  madness.     Satan  and  his  hosts  have  outgrown 


284  The  Bible. 

the  whole  Bible.  We  want  none  of  that.  It  is 
hunchbacked,  satyr-hoofed,  frenzied  with  rage, 
and  fighting  against  God.  No,  we  want  none  of  it. 
We  want  eternal  life,  joy,  growth.  It  is  all 
guaranteed  in  the  Bible.  Let  us  read  it.  Let  us 
heed  it.  The  oldest  book,  it  is  equally  the  newest. 
The  sublimest  poetry,  it  is  no  less  the  deepest 
truth  and  most  literal  fact.  Study  whatever  else 
you  can,  from  primer  to  calculus.  But  study 
first,  last,  and  always  the  wise  words  of  the  eter- 
nal God.  Never  be  ashamed  to  have  it  known 
you  study  it.  Never  let  the  heart  start  a  pulse 
of  crimson  toward  the  cheek  at  being  found  on 
bended  knee  perusing  its  precious  pages.  Most 
of  all,  make  it  the  man  of  your  counsel  and 
guide  of  youryoutli. 

A  Russian  prince  once  carried  a  picture  of  his 
father  near  his  heart.  Frequently  looking  at  it, 
he  was  heard  to  exclaim,  "  I  will  do  nothing  un- 
worthy of  so  noble  a  father."  Looking  on  the 
portrait  of  our  Father,  the  majestic  features  of 
whose  power  are  being  outlined  by  flying  suns, 
'  moving  millions  of  years,  the  lineaments  of  whose 
wisdom  are  traced  in  this  unequaled  word,  and 
the  beauties  of  whose  love  are  imaged  by  grace 
in  our  hearts,  let  us  say,  "  We  will  do  nothing 
unworthy  of  such  a  Father." 


XI. 

THE  bible:  its  FIRST  GREAT 

ENGLISH  TRANSLATOR 

-WYCLIFFE. 


XL 

THE  BIBLE:  ITS   FIRST  GREAT  ENGLISH 
TRANSLATOR— WYCLIFFE. 

IN  tliese  lectures  we  have  stated  theories,  opin- 
ions, and  principles  about  the  Bible.  We  now 
come  to  consider  the  process  and  results  of  its 
practical  application  to  a  great  people. 

On  a  divine  day  more  than  twenty  years  ago  my 
pilgrim  feet  wandered  about  the  grounds  of  Hich- 
mond  Castle  in  Yorkshire,  England.  What  a 
sweet  bridal  of  earth  and  sky  filled  all  the  air. 
There  was  verdure  and  bloom  below ;  brightness 
and  glory  above.  There  were  the  old  ruins, 
world-famous,  and  there  the  majestic  and  ven- 
erable elms  springing  from  some  little  seed  cen- 
turies ago,  and  standing  like  a  perpetual  fountain 
of  vegetable  beauty  and  growth.  In  themselves 
they  were  a  type  of  the  mustard  seed  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  once  planted  so  near. 

But  the  old  castle,  famous  for  chivalry  and 
scarred  with  battles,  the  grounds  built  over  with 
grandeur  by  the  forces  of  nature,  were  not  the  prin- 
cipal attraction.      It  was  near  here,  at  Wycliffe, 


288  The  Bible  : 

or  Water  Cliffe,  on  an  ancestral  estate,  that  John 
of  Wy cliff e  was  born.  Kear  1320  tliis  Morning 
Star  of  the  Keforniation  began  to  shine.  Hence  it 
was  another  and  a  nearer  Bethlehem  to  my  loving 
heart.  Over  it  the  heavens  once  more  broke  into 
song.  And  from  one  more  place  flowed  to  all 
the  earth  the  news  of  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  high- 
est ;  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  man." 

A  few  sentences  shall  set  before  us  the  condi- 
tion of  England  at  his  coming.  The  great  Gregory 
had  sent  Austin  and  his  thirty-nine  missionaries 
to  England  in  A.  D.  597,  and  the  island  had  ac- 
cepted architecture,  agriculture,  art,  music,  per- 
sonal freedom,  and  religion  at  the  hand  of  these 
foreign  evangelists.  Asia  sent  us  Theodore,  a 
Greek  from  Tarsus,  in  the  seventh  century.  He 
personally  taught  mathematics,  medicine,  and  the- 
ology. Africa  put  us  in  lasting  debt  by  sending 
the  Abbot  Adrian,  and  a  century  later  such  ad- 
vance had  been  made  that  we  formed  laws  for 
Christian  morals  and  corresponded  with  Charle- 
magne, the  mightiest  spirit  of  the  continent,  on 
commerce  and  education.  Alfred,  truly  called 
"  the  Great,"  exalted  England  by  making  with  his 
own  mind  and  hand  translations  of  parts  of  the 
Scriptures  (a  far  more  noble  example  for  princes 
to  set  their  people  than  gambling),  reached  half 


Wycliffe.  289 

round  the  globe,  and  sent  ambassadors  to  the  ori- 
ental Christian  Church  in  India,  promoted  a  higher 
education  of  girls,  founded  Oxford,  one  of  the 
greatest  universities  of  the  world  to-day,  and  ex- 
pressed the  royal  wish  that  all  free-born  English 
youth  should  sometime  come  to  read  with  correct- 
ness and  ease  the  English  Scriptures. 

England  rose  in  all  the  elements  of  greatness  till 
at  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor  it  was  far  in 
advance  of  the  Continent.  Women  held  a  higher 
place,  freedom  was  more  general,  serfs  could  be- 
come nobles,  Westminster  Abbey  was  finished, 
copies  of  Scripture  were  accessible  to  laymen  and 
priests,  government  was  largely  representative, 
and  written  laws  took  the  place  of  kingly  usur- 
pation and  caprice. 

Then  broke  in  the  Normans  with  their  fury  of 
conquest.  They  were  of  the  same  Teutonic  blood, 
but  they  were  the  Ishmaels  of  the  family.  They 
had  sailed  every  sea  as  pirates,  and  swooped  down 
on  every  land  as  robbers.  They  had  settled  in 
France  long  enough  to  adopt  all  its  feudal  customs, 
its  debasing  religion,  and  cordial  hatred  of  their 
English  brothers. 

They  were  fierce  adherents  of  the  papal  hier- 
archy. At  Christmas,  1066,  William  of  Normandy 
was  crowned  in  Westminster  Abbey.     The  Saxon 


290  The  Bible: 

clergy  were  driven  from  their  places  and  succeeded 
by  foreign  priests  till  there  was  but  one  bishop  of 
English  blood  left  in  his  place,  and  the  pontiff  of 
Rome  was  supreme  in  Saxon  England.  The 
nation  was  crushed,  its  language  rooted  out  of 
public  records,  and  the  best  men  fled  beyond  the 
sea. 

But  the  trampled  nation  still  had  power  to  as- 
similate, absorb,  and  exalt  the  conquerors.  As  the 
Roman  maidens,  violently  stolen  and  torn  from 
their  homes,  had  power  to  subdue  the  wild  Sabines 
and  Romans  into  peace,  so  those  Anglo-Saxons 
absorbed  all  the  good  there  was  in  the  Kormans 
without  losing  their  own  vigor  and  power. 

In  all  the  great  crises  of  our  race  interest  centers 
around  a  single  man.  When  the  time  of  the 
world's  uplifting  by  divine  power  came  all  interest 
is  centered  in  Abraham.  When  Israel  must  be 
led  like  a  flock  out  of  slavery  Moses  appears.  In 
American  independence  we  see  many  legislators, 
soldiers,  and  theorists,  but  only  one  Washington. 
And  in  the  whole  world's  crucial  hour  there  are 
many  Johns,  Marys,  apostles,  and  martyrs,  but 
only  one  Christ.  So  in  the  great  struggle  of  Eng- 
land there  was  but  one  Wycliffe. 

He  came  to  Oxford  early  in  life.  In  blood  he 
was  an  Anglo-Saxon.     It  is  a  joy  to  us  that  he 


"Wycliffe.  291 

was  of  our  own  lineage.  There  was  no  scrofula  of 
French  pleasure  and  license  in  his  blood ;  no  warp- 
ing from  perfect  human  equality  and  right,  to 
feudal  notions  of  privilege,  of  nobles  born  to  rule 
born  serfs,  in  his  mind  ;  no  taint  in  favor  of  prelacy 
and  the  spiritual  despotism  of  the  usurping  Eom- 
ish  Church  on  his  conscience. 

He  was  tall,  slender,  well  shaped,  had  a  quick, 
firm  step,  large  nose,  deep-set  eyes,  a  wiry  frame 
made  for  endurance.  The  best  blood,  and  the 
best  principles,  in  a  heart  of  perfect  courage  comes 
to  college.  The  colleges  are  ever  the  gymnasium 
and  training  place  of  genius. 

John  of  "Wycliffe  quickly  showed  his  power. 
He  easily  passed  up  the  steps  of  achievement.  He 
had  a  decided  taste  for  natural  science,  and  to  the 
end  of  his  days  drew  powerful  arguments  and 
graphic  illustrations  from  that  original  volume  of 
the  revelation  of  God.  He  was  at  home  in  mathe- 
matics, physics,  logic,  ethics,  and  rhetoric.  To 
his  honor  be  it  recorded  that  he  faithfully  dis- 
charged all  college  duties,  never  imagining  that  a 
shirking  of  these  could  prepare  him  for  fidelity  in 
the  performance  of  others.  He  availed  himself 
of  all  the  college  could  do  for  him,  and  won  high 
distinction  in  every  department.  To  these  studies 
of  the  highest  character  he  devoted  at  least  ten 


292  The  Bible: 

toilful  and  diligent  years  getting  such  power  and 
brightness  as  should  make  him  potent  and  splendid 
in  the  struggle  of  the  coming  years. 

He  was  a  man  of  such  ability  that  he  was  given  a 
fellowship  at  Merton  College  in  1357,  and  in  1361 
was  made  Master  of  Balliol,  and  thus  became  a 
factor  of  the  university  government.  Thus  he 
passed  nearly  thirty  years  of  quiet,  earnest  study 
before  he  appeared  on  the  public  stage  of  national 
affairs  in  1366.  Let  every  lover  of  liberty  and 
hater  of  tyranny  rise  up  and  bless  the  quiet  shades 
of  Oxford  for  housing  and  making  such  a  man. 
Those  shades  were  the  true  wilderness  for  the  new 
John  the  Baptist. 

During  all  this  time  he  is  doing  two  things  that 
almost  determine  his  future.  He  is  a  close  stu- 
dent of  the  Bible,  and  he  is  entering  the  farm- 
houses far  and  near,  reading  to  the  humble  folk 
the  word  of  God,  which  he  puts  into  their  own 
vernacular  tongue  and  hears  their  pithy  remarks 
in  their  own  quaint  speech,  so  that  God's  great 
word  gets  expression  in  the  lowly  words  of  pious 
men.  This  Moses  is  getting  his  forty  years  of 
education  in  the  wilderness.  It  is  quiet  now,  but 
the  conflict  with  Pharaoh,  magicians,  and  the  ele- 
ments is  coming  that  shall  herald  in  once  more 
the  Light  of  the  world.  The  world  has  named  him 


Wtcliffe.  293 

the  Morning  Star  of  the  Reformation.  And  he 
himself  might  have  said  with  John,  "I  am  not 
that  Light,  but  am  sent  to  bear  witness  of  the  Light, 
the  true  Light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world." 

It  was  during  this  period  of  a  whole  generation 
of  public  teaching  that  his  chief  work  beyond 
England  was  done.  In  1365  he  was  made  Master 
of  Canterbury  Hall.  This  was  an  institution 
founded  at  Oxford  by  Islip,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  was  a  school  of  the  highest  grade,  where 
Christian  men,  made  free  from  all  want  and  care, 
might  pursue  the  highest  walks  of  Christian 
thought  and  draw  from  the  skies  help  for  ordinary 
men  in  daily  life.  It  was  in  this  place  that  the 
methods  of  Roger  Bacon  were  applied  to  highest 
uses.  Into  the  lecture  room  of  John  of  Wycliife 
thronged  the  leaders  of  the  future  thought  of 
much  of  Europe.  He  was  the  new  sensation. 
Nobles  from  Paris,  Germany,  Holland,  Boliemia, 
and  even  Spain  came  to  his  lecture  hall.  The 
mustard  seed  planted  in  these  young  hearts  became 
trees  over  half  tlie  continent  in  a  little  while. 

Even  here  the  battle  was  forced  upon  him. 
His  appointment  as  warden  in  the  place  of  Wood- 
hull  was  regarded  as  throwing  down  the  gage  of 
battle.     The  papacy  took  it  up,  and  the  war  has 


294  The  Bible: 

raged  already  for  half  a  millennium.  It  was 
English  law,  Magna  Charta,  and  Bible  against 
canon  law,  decretals,  and  the  pope  as  final 
anthoritj.  In  1366  Islip,  the  generous  founder  of 
Canterbury  Hall,  died,  and  his  office  was  given  to 
Simon  Langham,  who  at  once  ordered  Wycliffe  to 
vacate  his  post.  He  refused.  An  able  lawyer,  he 
knew  his  rights ;  a  friend  of  the  founder,  he 
knew  the  wishes  and  the  object  he  had  in  view  in 
the  noble  foundation.  Langham  appealed  to  the 
pope,  and  after  three  years  of  struggle  Wycliffe  was 
removed.  Thus  it  appears  that  a  generous 
Christian  soul,  anxious  to  establish  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  human  hearts  by  a  certain  line  of  Christian 
teaching,  can  not  only  have  his  own  generous 
purpose  foiled,  but  the  very  endowment  his 
generosity  creates  turned,  in  the  hands  of  his 
enemies,  and  the  enemies  of  the  truth,  into  teach- 
ing the  very  doctrines  he  abhorred  by  persons 
he  detested.  It  is  enough  to  suppress  all  generosity, 
unless  one  remembers  that  there  is  One  who  says  : 
"  Yengeance  is  mine,  and  I  will  repay,  saith  the 
Lord." 

It  gives  a  clear  insight  into  the  character  of  the 
Churcli  of  Rome  to  remember  that  from  the  time 
of  Hildebrand,  the  greatest  of  the  Gregories,  to  Leo 
X,  a  period  of  nearly  four  hundred  and  fifty  years. 


Wyoliffe.  295 

Rome  accepted  the  responsibility  of  the  education 
of  the  world.  She  pretended  to  have  a  monastery 
and  a  school  in  every  district  of  her  wide  and  un 
questioned  sway.  There  was  no  foe  to  resist  or  to 
prevent  the  fulfillment  of  any  educational  purpose. 
Kings  were  submissive  and  stood  bareheaded  or 
barefooted  at  the  papal  gates.  It  was  the  age  of 
Canossa.  The  Church  was  the  heir  of  all  the  art 
and  learning  of  the  ages.  To  her  were  committed 
the  oracles  of  God.  But  she  not  only  neglected 
the  education  of  laymen  till  it  was  rare  to  find 
one  able  to  write  his  name,  but  she  neglected 
the  education  of  her  own  ministers.  Kot  one 
Spanish  priest  in  a  thousand  could  write  an 
ordinary  letter  of  salutation.  Few  Italian  priests 
could  even  read.  Mohammedanism  had  its  litera- 
ture, why  not  Christianity?  The  world  was 
covered  with  "a  palpable  gloom,"  and  the  un- 
opposed papal  Church  made  no  effectual  effort  to 
lighten  it. 

It  is  the  pride  of  this  Church  that  it  "  is  always 
the  same."  And  it  is  the  shame  of  our  age  that  it 
is  allowed  to  be  so.  That  Church  of  the  Dark 
Ages  is  here,  in  enlightened  America,  the  avowed 
enemy  of  the  public  schools.  The  whole  land 
should  rise  and  utter  the  cry.  Accursed  be  the 
Church,  and  palsied  be  the  hand  that  would  dare 


296  The  Bible: 

to  rob  the  lowliest  child  of  the  right  to  the  highest 
possible  education. 

After  this  removal  Wjcliffe  goes  back  to  his 
university  teaching.  The  fight  waxes  hotter,  the 
blows  fall  thicker  and  harder.  The  character  and 
objects  of  this  fight  are  now  to  be  revealed. 

The  Roman  Church  has  been  raised  up  to  con- 
solidate the  diverse  races  of  Europe  into  one  great 
family,  so  that  they  could  never  lose  that  sense  of 
relationship.  This  is  always  a  necessary  basis  for 
progressive  improvement.  It  had  wielded  a 
spiritual  power  over  barbaric  princes,  restraining 
their  wills  and  calming  their  tumultuous  minds  to 
milder  purposes.  But  the  necessity  that  all 
Europe  should  constitute  a  single  ecclesiastical 
state  was  a  phenomenon  of  a  moment  in  the  ma- 
jestic march  of  events.  The  Church  had  survived 
its  day,  and  then  perverted  all  its  power  from  the 
service  of  men  to  the  service  of  self.  Then  the 
necessity  of  the  hour  and  duty  of  every  man  was 
to  put  down  the  perversion ;  for  he  who  perverts 
good  to  evil  is  a  double  sinner. 

At  what  point  did  the  impending  conflict 
begin  ?  In  1365  Pope  Urban  Y  made  demand  on 
King  Edward  for  tribute  money  claimed  to  be  due 
from  England  as  a  nation  subject  to  the  Vatican. 
This  tribute  was  promised  by  King  John  as  a  condi- 


"Wycliffe.  297 

tion  of  assuming  the  kingship  of  England,  and  was 
in  arrears  for  more  than  a  whole  generation  of 
men.  If  ever  there  was  occasion  for  hot  resent- 
ment and  plain  speech  toward  the  grasping  old 
tyrant  of  the  seven  hills  of  Rome  this  was  the 
time.  Happily,  English  speech  was  by  this  time 
well  developed.  The  stm-dy  old  Saxon  had  come  to 
the  front  once  more.  The  survival  of  the  fittest  had 
let  the  vigor  stand  and  had  retained  the  imported 
Norman  and  French  only  as  a  varnish  on  solid  oak. 
It  needed  only  such  a  national  insult  to  make 
Britons,  Saxons,  and  Kormans  forget  their  differ- 
ences and  be  all  English,  as  Wycliffe  said. 

King  Edward  wisely  referred  the  question  of 
sending  to  Home  such  a  mass  of  gold  and  a 
greater  mass  of  dishonor  to  a  coming  Parliament. 
Who  created  the  public  sentiment?  Who  had 
heart  and  breadth  of  mind  enough  to  voice  the 
indignation  of  millions  ?  It  was  the  quiet  scholar, 
the  keen  logician,  the  student  of  international  law, 
the  man  of  bluff  humor  and  keen  wit,  John  of 
Wycliffe.  He  had  been  lecturing  to  crowds  of 
students  on  canon  law.  He  had  been  sowing  for 
years  in  the  quick  soil  of  youth  the  seeds  of 
freedom  and  independence.  The  best  blood  of 
England  had  thronged  his  lecture  rooms.  Proba- 
bly a  member  of  this  Parliament,  he  at  any  rale 


298  The  Bible: 

furnislied  the  cool  arguments  and  tlie  hot  indigna- 
tion for  the  answer  to  Pope  Urban,  and  drew  upon 
himself  the  fierce  wrath  of  the  replies.  To  have 
thus  become  the  target  of  so  many  sharpshooting 
replies  testifies  to  his  leadership.  He  was  only 
forty-five  years  of  age.  In  his  published  argument 
he  calls  himself  "  an  obedient  son  of  the  Church  of 
Eome."  But  he  did  not  blind  his  eyes  to  the 
right.  A  broad  spirit  of  nationality  everywhere 
appears  in  the  fact,  and  he  so  often  appeals  to 
permanent  principles  as  the  true  foundation  of 
political  acts,  that  we  find  he  had  already  emanci- 
pated himself  from  all  resort  to  tricks  of  policy  and 
all  that  shortsightedness  that  judges  things  from 
the  demands  of  the  hour  rather  than  from  general 
principles  that  should  sway  from  the  unseen  and 
eternal.  Amid  the  tossing  waves  and  changing 
currents  both  of  water  and  wind,  blessed  is  the 
man  who  can  say : 

"  The  winds  that  o'er  my  ocean  run 
Blow  from  all  lands  beyond  the  sun." 

The  result  was  that  the  Parliament  declared  that 
such  tribute  never  should  be  paid  ;  that  John  had 
no  right  to  pledge  it;  that  he  had  violated  his 
coronation  oath  in  pledging  it ;  and  that  if  its  col- 
lection was  attempted  every  man  from  John  o' 
Groats  to  Land's  End  should  spring  to  the  defense 


Wyoliffe.  299 

of  nationality  and  honor,  spnrning  vassalage  to 
Rome,  and  singing,  "Britons  never  sliall  be 
slaves."  Home  heard  that  voice  rolling  its 
thunders  down  the  Alps  and  mumbled  its  fanglesa 
Jaws  in  silence. 

When  one  shows  ability  to  lead  opportunity  is 
never  lacking.  On  Wy cliff e  the  colleges  showered 
their  honors,  the  nation  its  responsibilities.  Eng- 
land sent  a  commission  to  the  ancient  city  of 
Bruges  to  treat  with  the  envoys  of  the  Romish 
Church  on  all  matters  of  difference.  They  were 
many  and  grave.  England  put  its  greatest  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  leaders  on  this  commission,  and 
Wy cliff e,  young  as  he  was,  is  named  second. 

He  stayed  two  years  in  that  city  of  pride  and 
luxury.  Twenty  ministers  of  foreign  kingdoms  had 
hotels  on  the  square.  Pope  Urban  sent  a  great 
company.  At  its  head  was  the  Archbishop  of 
Ravenna,  three  of  the  most  famous  bishops  of 
Italy,  and  the  most  crafty  lawyer  the  pope  could 
command. 

What  occurred  in  the  long  session  ?  The  lead- 
ing man  was  Wycliffe.  He  spoke  for  his  people, 
for  the  nation  already  great  by  the  Magna  Charta 
— its  greatness  secure  by  a  stable  constitution  and 
written  laws.  He  was  familiar  with  principles  and 
laws.      They  flowed  from  his  tongue's   end  like 


300  The  Bible: 

lessons  learned  at  liis  mother's  knee  ;  tliej  were 
learned  at  his  dear  mother's  knee,  his  alma  mater 
at  Oxford.  In  wit,  in  logic,  in  learning,  in  hiciditjj 
he  had  no  eq^nal.  What  answer  did  Rome  make  ? 
She  promised  to  promote  to  honor  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  commission^  and  did  it  soon  after.  She 
weighted  their  hands  with  gold  that  thej  could  not 
be  lifted  for  the  right;  she  covered  them  with  robes 
and  honors  till  thej  could  not  lay  aside  every  weight 
and  run  the  race  for  the  life  of  the  nation ;  she 
filled  their  ears  with  flatteries  and  stopped  their 
mouths  with  honey.  So  nothing  came  of  the  com- 
mission. 

Nothing  ?  Not  so.  Much  came  of  it  to  Wy cliff e. 
In  that  scene  of  pomp,  pride,  ostentation,  practical 
unbelief,  and  hardly  veiled  license  he  got  wdiat 
Luther  got  at  Home — abhorrence  of  its  craft,  hol- 
lo wness,  and  rottenness.  "When  honors  were  show- 
ered, none  came  to  him ;  when  flatteries  were  wafted, 
he  received  anathemas.  In  the  midst  of  treacheries 
and  craft  he  found  a  true,  lifelong,  noble  friend, 
John  of  Gaunt,  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  who  was 
to  be  Jonathan  to  this  David  ever  after. 

So  we  may  be  sure  he  was  true  to  his  king,  his 
country,  his  conscience,  and  his  God.  Soon  after 
his  return  his  tongue  and  pen  vent  words  that  are 
thunderbolts.      "  That   antichrist   of   the   Roman 


Wtcliffe.  301 

see."  "That  most  cursed  of  clippers  and  purse 
kervers."  "  Though  our  reahn  liad  a  huge  hill  of 
gold,  and  no  man  took  therefrom  but  this  proud, 
worldly  priest's  collectors,  soon  the  hill  would  bo 
spent." 

He  now  sees  that  the  pope  is  not  to  be  met  by 
commissions,  edicts,  or  kings;  for  he  may  bribe 
the  ambassadors,  annul  the  laws,  abrogate  constitu- 
tions, and  terrify  kings  into  silence.  There  is  but 
one  King  he  cannot  silence — he  is  the  King  of 
heaven ;  but  one  law  he  cannot  annul — it  is  the 
law  of  God. 

It  IS  easy  to  trace  the  course  of  this  man  from 
"  an  obedient  son  of  the  Church  of  Kome,"  as  he 
called  himself,  to  an  enemy  so  defiant  and  unspar- 
ing that  Rome  felt  that  fire  was  the  only  thing  tliat 
the  Church  could  offer  to  its  son. 

During  his  long  life  of  incessant  activity  up  to 
within  six  years  of  his  death  he  believed  in  the 
primacy  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  But  he  did  not 
accept  his  judgment  as  infallible,  nor  the  man  as 
possessed  of  spiritual  power  by  reason  of  his  office ; 
nor  did  he  acknowledge  that  he  had  any  right  to 
interfere  with  civil  affairs  nor  dictate  the  policy  of 
sovereign  states. 

During  the  next  three  years  of  his  shortening 
life  the  unseemly  squabbles  of  two  or  three  popes 


302  The  Bible: 

at  once,  darkening  the  air  with  curses  and  anath- 
emas hurled  at  each  other,  emancipated  Wycliffe 
from  all  lingering  belief  in  their  having  any  divine 
authority.  And  for  the  last  three  years  of  his  life 
he  regarded  the  pope  as  the  antichrist  prophesied 
in  the  Scriptures,  the  most  abominable  and  blas- 
phemous usurper  possible  to  human  or  diabolical 
imagination  and  presumption. 

Hence  the  vastly  greater  part  of  his  long  life 
was  spent  in  fighting  abuses  in  his  own  Church, 
trying  to  enhance  and  secure  its  purity  and  power. 
In  all  his  work  he  should  have  had  the  hearty  sup- 
port of  every  man  in  that  vast  Church  who  loved 
righteousness  and  hated  robbery  for  burnt  offering. 
Perhaps  he  did  have  the  support  of  every  such 
man  who  truly  knew  him.  But  they  were  so  few. 
Tell  men  who  are  in  holy  places  for  personal  profit 
and  their  individual  advancement  that  they  are  not 
doing  right,  and  you  raise  an  Ephesian  mob  that 
yells  for  two  hours,  "  Great  is  our  Diana  of  the 
Ephesians,"  when  they  mean  all  the  while,  "  Our 
craft  is  in  danger."  Better  for  them  and  the  world 
that  both  their  craft  and  their  craftiness  perish  ut- 
terly from  the  earth.  But  they  will  never  let  go 
their  bright  prospects  without  a  struggle  and  a 
howl. 

Wycliffe's  opposition  to  Kome  had  three  ends  in 


Wycliffe.  303 

view.  First,  opposition  to  that  all-embracing  as- 
sumption that  the  pontiff  was  supreme  over  all 
nations  in  the  matter  of  civil  government ;  that 
as  God  he  could  set  up  one  king  and  put  down 
another;  that  he  could  work  his  diabolical  ma- 
chinery of  thumbscrews  and  soulscrews  on  the 
consciences  of  men,  and  by  all  the  terrors  of  eter- 
nity emancipate  men  from  all  allegiance  to  their 
country  and  its  government,  and  transfer  that  alle- 
giance to  such  sovereigns  as  the  pope  chose  to  set 
up.  It  is  too  great  a  power  to  be  intrusted  to  any 
one  man  or  angel.  In  every  land  the  pope  had  his 
courts  before  which  he  could  summon  any  English- 
man or  man  of  any  other  nationality;  he  could 
there  try  and  convict  and  sentence  to  his  own 
prison  or  gallows  or  stake.  He  had  his  own  treas- 
ury and  system  of  collection,  till  he  drained  every 
country  of  its  wealth  that  he  might  spend  it  on 
beastly  bacchanalian  orgies,  poisonings,  and  secret 
murders  at  Rome.  His  tender  mercies  were  cruel. 
'Not  to  have  fought  with  pen  and  sword  this  most 
outrageous  interference  in  civil  affairs  would  have 
revealed  Wycliffe  as  traitor  to  his  own  land  and 
the  best  interests  of  men.  He  saw  clearly,  and 
hence  must  act  decisively. 

The  next  phase  of  his  battle  was  against  the 
secularity  of  the  priests.     They  were  a  set  of  ig- 


304  The  Bible  : 

iiorant,  lazy,  lousy  pests,  wlio  were  the  fit  tools  of 
those  who  knew  better  and  did  worse.  Every  man 
seeking  and  attaining  personal  ends  must  have  a 
certain  number  of  tools.  They  must  be  just  large 
enough  to  admire  the  person  and  further  the  ends 
of  him  who  seeks  power.  They  must  be  controlled 
by  flattery  and  bought  by  small  favors — the  useless 
crumbs  that  fall  from  the  great  man's  table.  They 
are  the  smallest  and  the  most  pitiable  of  mortals. 
But  they  can  always  be  found.  It  was  against 
these  that  Wycliffe  in  the  interests  of  his  country 
had  to  contend. 

Six  years  before  his  death  he  had  to  enter  his 
protest  against  another  usage  of  the  Romish 
Church.  For  the  collection  of  monej^s  and  the 
support  of  mercenary  hangers  on  the  Church  had 
established  the  mendicant  orders — a  set  of  holy 
beggars  w]io  gleaned  everywhere,  swarmed  like  the 
locusts  of  Egypt,  and,  like  them,  ate  up  every  green 
thing.  That  men  could  be  found  to  enter  such 
work  was  sufficient  damnation  of  the  Church. 
That  members  of  their  body,  examples  of  the  effect 
of  their  training,  legitimate  fruits  of  its  develop- 
ment, should  be  found,  puts  a  brand  of  infamy  on 
the  whole  Church.  Tlie  Church  was  meant  to 
glorify  humanity,  make  it  like  God  who  worketh 
up  to  now,  and  like  the  Son  who  gloried  in  work. 


Wtcliffe.  305 

But  this  pretended  Church  produced  men  whose 
glory  was  to  be  dirty,  mean,  and  lazy,  and  live  by 
begging,  and  not  work.  Such  a  dry-rot  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  nation  must  be  rebuked.  Some  bugle 
call  to  manliness  must  be  found,  or  England  be- 
come an  Italy  or  Spain.  Wycliffe  put  tlie  bugle 
to  his  lips.  It  proved  to  be  Gabriel's  trump  to 
many  a  soul,  making  it  leap  up  with  resurrection 
life.  But  the  originators  of  this  system  of  impov- 
erishment of  character  and  country,  the  defenders 
of  this  system  of  gleaning  the  pennies  and  cold 
victuals  of  the  land  for  the  benefit  of  a  foreign, 
alien,  and  hostile  Church,  never  forgave  the  man 
whose  voice  was  for  manhood  and  national  life. 

What  doctrines  such  a  reformer  finally  came  to 
believe  is  a  most  interesting  question.  Of  course, 
he  had  been  trained  to  implicitly  accept  both  the 
doctrines  and  the  authority  of  the  Romish  Church. 
No  earnest  one  ever  breaks  out  of  the  old  into  the 
new  life  and  belief  without  a  fearful  struggle. 
Men  have  turned  Catholic,  Protestant,  Moslem,  or 
Jew,  according  as  their  supposed  interests  lay.  But 
a  man  who  regards  the  truth  as  the  greatest  per- 
sonal interest  on  earth  does  not  turn  so  easily. 

He  simply  flung  himself  into  the  perilous  van 

of  battle  against  Church  abuses  and  papal  outrages 

against  national  rights  for  the  greater  part  of  his 
20 


306  The  Bible: 

life.  And  not  till  near  the  end  of  his  busy  life 
did  he  formulate  his  views  of  doctrine.  Be  it 
understood  that  there  was  but  little  opposition  to 
Romish  doctrines  in  existence,  and  whatever  he 
discovered  contrary  thereto  he  must  have  derived 
from  his  constant  and  loving  study  of  the  word 
of  God. 

He  took  Reason  and  Authority  as  his  sole  guides 
to  religious  knowledge.  Reason  represented  an 
instructed  mind  and  enlightened  conscience ;  and 
Authority  was  represented  by  the  word  of  God. 
Against  this  there  was  no  authority.  Decretals, 
bulls,  canon  law,  civil  law,  tradition  are  nothing 
against  the  clear  word  of  God.  Had  he  lived  in 
our  day,  when  the  Constitution  was  quoted  in  the 
defense  of  slavery  and  Supreme  Court  decisions 
were  announced  as  the  law  of  the  land,  he  would 
have  taken  his  stand  on  a  higher  law  and  thundered 
as  from  Sinai  against  the  sum  of  all  villainies. 

He  held  that  the  Bible  was  a  book  for  every 
man,  to  be  understood  in  hearts  free  from  pride, 
by  prayer,  by  experiment,  and  by  the  real  and 
known  help  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  As  he  grows 
older  his  pen  and  tongue  more  and  more  drop  with 
the  fatness  of  this  divine  word,  showing  that  it  had 
entered  his  very  soul  and  distilled  its  balm  on  his 
very  lips.     The  law  of  God  is  the  standard  of  all 


Wycliffe.  307 

authority  in  State  or  Church,  and  whoever  teaches 
or  rules  by  any  other  authority,  or  in  any  other 
manner,  has  no  authority  whatever;  he  is  a  usurper 
for  whose  speedy  and  utter  overthrow  every  man 
loyal  to  God  is  irrevocably  pledged. 

He  held  that  salvation  is  of  grace  only,  and  not 
of  works.  On  the  difficult  problem  of  the  nature 
of  our  blessed  Lord,  the  God-man,  subsequent  ages 
have  indorsed  his  views.  He  held  him  to  be  divine 
in  his  nature  and  work,  but  as  being  the  head  and 
soul  of  humanity.  That  a  being  so  august  and 
glorious  should  appear  and  be  obliged  to  so  suffer 
for  men  was  at  once  a  proclamation  and  authenti- 
fication  of  the  glory  and  excellence  of  man.  That 
he  should  be  worthy  of  such  a  costly  redemption 
was  an  amazing  illustration  of  his  worth. 

He  believed  in  the  entirety  of  the  whole  blessed 
invisible  Church  of  God,  in  the  royal  priesthood  of 
every  believer.  So  that  if  every  pope,  cardinal,  and 
priest  should  perish  at  one  breath  of  the  nostril  of 
the  Almighty  the  Church  would  still  be  completely 
officered,  and  able  to  administer  all  the  sacraments 
without  pause  or  intermission.  IN'ay,  more  ;  if  the 
clergy  should  prove  false  or  given  over  to  evil  they 
must  be  arraigned,  tried,  convicted,  and  removed 
by  the  laity. 

He  believed  in  only  two  sacraments.     He  indig- 


308  The  Bible: 

nantly  denounced  the  obligation  to  celibacy  on  the 
part  of  the  clergy  as  "unscriptural,  hypocritical,  and 
niorally  pernicious."  Against  the  defenders  of  the 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation  he  hurled  the  smooth 
stones  of  the  brook  till  this  Goliath  of  Gath  fell 
on  the  resounding  plain. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  the  popish  authorities  de- 
termined that  his  mouth  must  be  stopped.  He  had 
prepared  the  arguments  whereby  the  pontiff  was 
estopped  from  getting  thirty-three  years  of  revenue 
from  the  English  government.  He  had  scourged 
a  recreant  and  foreign  clergy  for  outrageous  sins. 
He  had  interfered  with  the  gleaning  of  stray  pen- 
nies by  the  mendicant  friars.  He  had  taught  the 
scholars  and  nobles  of  Europe  truth  that  must 
weaken  the  influence  of  the  apostate  Church 
wherever  they  might  go.  He  had  lighted  the 
morning  star  of  a  day  of  reformation  soon  to 
dawn.  Let  the  fire  be  brought.  It  was  not  enough 
that  they  had  ousted  him  from  being  warden  of 
Canterbury  Hall,  that  had  been  founded  by  his 
friend ;  he  must  cease  to  speak  altogether.  Could 
any  opportunity  be  found  ?  The  sword  and  fagot 
were  hot  for  their  victim. 

In  February,  1377,  he  was  ordered  to  appear 
before  the  Convocation  of  London.  He  came,  but 
his  Jonathan,  John  of  Gaunt,  the  grand  marshal 


Wycliffe.  309 

of  England,  came  also,  and  amid  retainers  in  such 
numbers  that  in  the  fierce  words  that  followed 
Wycliife  did  not  open  his  lips.  He  went  out  free 
and  unscathed. 

The  English  bishops  at  once  set  to  searching  his 
works  for  heresy,  a  field  where  the  Church  held 
itself  to  be  supreme.  Nineteen  propositions  were 
forwarded  to  Rome  as  his  and  heretical.  "  Five 
referred  to  legal  matters  as  to  the  rights  of  prop- 
erty and  inheritance,  four  concerned  the  rights  of 
rulers  to  withdraw  from  the  Church  its  temporal 
endowments  if  these  should  be  abused,  nine  re- 
lated to  the  power  of  Church  discipline  with  its 
necessary  limits,  and  the  closing  one  maintained 
that  the  pontiff  himself  being  in  error  may  be 
challenged  by  laymen  and  overruled."  He  taught 
that  no  man  could  be  excommunicated  from  the 
kingdom  of  grace  unless  by  his  conduct  he  has  first 
excommunicated  himself.  Such  propositions  are 
in  defiance  of  the  papal  Church.  To  disregard  them 
and  their  author  is  to  surrender,  and  Rome  never 
surrenders. 

Hence  Gregory  issued  five  bulls  in  May,  1377, 
against  Wycliffe.  Tliree  were  addressed  to  the 
Archbishop  and  Bishop  of  London,  commanding 
them  to  ascertain  if  such  had  been  in  fact  affirmed 
by  Wyclifie  ^^  in  a  detestable  insanity,"  and  if  so 


310  The  Bible: 

to  imprison  him  till  further  instructions.  Another 
was  addressed  to  the  king,  requiring  his  aid,  and 
one  to  the  authorities  of  the  University  of  Oxford, 
requiring  them  on  pain  of  loss  of  all  their  priv- 
ileges to  commit  Wycliffe  and  his  disciples  to 
custody. 

One  hardly  has  patience  to  read  such  bulls.  That 
the  tyrant  in  Rome  uses  such  words  about  an  Eng- 
lish subject  on  English  soil  ought  to  be  enough  to 
stir  English  blood  till  not  a  trace  of  popery  be 
found  in  the  whole  island.  It  did  have  a  decided 
tendency  in  that  direction. 

During  the  year  the  undaunted  Wycliffe  drew 
up  a  state  paper  for  the  king  and  council,  assert- 
ing with  resounding  emphasis  the  right  to  prevent 
treasure  from  being  carried  out  of  the  kingdom. 

The  following  year,  1378,  he  appeared  befoie 
the  archbishop  and  bishop,  and  made  written  an- 
swer to  the  charges.  He  retracted  nothing.  He 
was  more  powerfully  backed  than  before,  and  he 
once  more  passed  out  to  his  work  as  free  and  more 
famous  than  ever. 

Just  then  two  popes.  Urban  Yl  and  Clement 
YII,  began  to  bombard  each  other  with  curses,  and 
soon  after  there  were  three,  everyone  abominable, 
who  for  thirty  years  filled  the  earth  and  darkened 
heaven  with  anathemas  of  each  other.     This  fact 


Wyoliffe.  311 

left  no  curses  to  spare  for  heretics ;  the  popes  ab- 
sorbed them  all  for  each  other,  and  there  were  not 
enough  to  go  round. 

Here  let  the  panorama  of  this  lofty  life  cease  tc- 
move.  Gaze  well  upon  this  closing  picture.  Tlie 
intense  student,  accurate  logician,  the  keen  lawyer, 
the  lecturer  with  a  fame  world-wide,  the  king's 
counselor,  the  good  parson  of  Lutterworth,  the 
lover  of  all  good  and  the  hater  of  all  ill,  goes  out 
of  his  trial  to  an  influence  unmatched  by  any  other 
man  in  the  whole  realm,  leaving  several  infallible 
popes  trying  to  stab  each  other  in  the  dark. 

Greek  fable  tells  us  that  the  god  Pan  promised 
Pheidippides,  the  runner,  as  a  great  reward,  that  he 
should  never  know  decay.  It  was  found  to  mean 
that  he  should  lie  down  in  full  maturity  of  man- 
hood's powers,  and  waken  in  immortal  youth  be- 
yond death, 
t/ 

In  the  last  day  of  December,  1384,  in  conduct- 
ing the  services  in  his  own  holy  church  among  a 
people  that  loved  him  for  a  spotless  life  and  loft- 
iest teaching,  near  the  closing  prayer,  he  hears  the 
message  from  on  high,  "  Come  up  higher."  He  at 
once  his  labor  and  his  life  lays  down  and  goes  to 
reward. 

Is  Rome  satisfied  ?  Ko ;  she  comes  round  to 
kick  the   dead    lion  thirty-one   years   after.      At 


312  The  Bible: 

Constance,  when  they  had  just  burned  his  disciples, 
John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  thej  also  con- 
demn Wycliffe,  already  in  heaven,  to  be  burnt. 
But  no  man  dared  to  execute  that  sentence  till 
thirteen  years  afterward. 

Then  a  Judas  was  found.  He  had  been  a  pro- 
fessed friend,  had  received  many  favors  and  helps 
from  WyclifPe,  but  he  wanted  to  make  peace  with 
Home.  He  goes  to  Lutterworth  with  a  rascally 
crew,  and  with  gibes  and  curses  searches  out  the 
body  of  him  whom  he  calls  a  "  damned  and  obstinate 
heretic,"  and  burns  the  bones  on  a  funeral  pyre 
and  flings  the  ashes  into  tlie  Swift,  that  bears  them 
to  the  Avon,  thence  to  the  Severn,  that  to  the  sea, 
the  se:;,  to  the  ocean,  that  every  wave  may  sing  his 
requiem  and  Christendom  be  his  monument. 

O  dastard  Rome,  men  can  understand  why  in 
the  fury  of  conflict  and  in  the  fear  of  losing  power 
you  could  swing  the  fagot  and  devastate  whole  prov- 
inces by  the  sword — there  is  something  to  be 
gained  or  something  to  be  kept  from  loss ;  but 
why  you  should  break  open  sepulchers  and  witli 
sacrilegious  hands  seek  to  defile  the  sacred  ashes  of 
the  dead  we  cannot  tell,  unless  you  had  a  devil's 
heart  of  hate. 

But  why  speak  of  WycliflFe  in  a  course  of  Bible 
lectures  ?     Because  his  greatest  work  remains  for 


Wycliffe.  313 

notice.  I  Lave  shown  you  the  scholar,  the  lawyer, 
the  lit  counselor  of  the  king,  the  true  defender  of 
the  nation's  rights,  the  brave  denouncer  of  wrong. 
But  now  let  us  come  to  his  greatest  work — the 
translation  of  the  Scriptures. 

Looking  back  half  a  millennium  on  the  great  and 
various  work  of  this  greatest  man  of  his  times,  we 
clearly  see  that  his  greatest  w^ork  was  the  giving 
of  the  English  Bible  to  the  English  nation.  We 
are  glad  also  that  he  was  great  enough  to  see  it. 
Other  things  were  the  by-play  and  side  work  of 
the  great  man.  The  continuous  work  of  his  life 
for  which  life  was  lengthened  out  till  the  work 
was  done  w^as  giving  God's  word  to  the  common 
people.  Early  in  his  student  life  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  visit  the  lowly  farmhouses  far  and  wide 
reading  and  translating  God's  word  to  the  people. 
He  thus  found  what  the  people  could  understand, 
and  listened  to  their  comment  in  tlieir  own  terse, 
homely  speech.  He  profited  in  this  Avay  that  our 
own  latest  revisers  might  have  wisely  practiced. 

Thus  this  wise  doctor,  this  skilled  antagonist,  sets 
himself  to  do  two  things — to  put  that  law  of  God 
into  the  speech  of  the  common  people ;  and,  sec- 
ondly, to  create  a  class  of  godly  men  who  with- 
out churchly  stipends  and  luxurious  livings  shall 
carry  this  word  to  the  homes  and  hearts  of  the  peo- 


314r  The  Bible: 

pie.  He  established  an  itinerant  ministry,  a  trav- 
eling apostolate,  that  for  the  love  of  Christ  and  the 
love  of  souls  should  carry  the  word  of  life  to  dy- 
ing men.  He  inspired  and  sent  his  "poor  preach- 
ers," as  they  were  called  by  his  foes,  till  in  the 
language  of  Walsingham,  his  popish  foe,  "  he  filled 
the  land  with  these  pests,  and  made  all  London 
swarm  with  his  Lollards."  It  is  the  divine  way  of 
revolution.  God's  word  is  the  greatest  power,  it 
is  spirit,  it  is  yet  alive.  To  shrine  it  in  the  hearts 
of  the  glad  common  people  is  to  make  usurpers 
powerless  and  all  their  schemes  come  to  naught. 
It  is  in  vain  that  rulers  plot  and  the  kings  of  the 
earth  set  themselves.  He  that  sitteth  in  the  heav- 
ens shall  laugh;  the  Lord  shall  have  them  in  derision. 
They  may  even  murder  the  Prince  of  Life,  but 
three  days  after  he  rises  again,  and  forty  days  after 
the  despised  disciples  fill  all  Jerusalem  with  his 
doctrine,  and  bring  for  all  ages  and  all  eternity  his 
blood  upon  the  murderers. 

Up  to  1360  there  was  no  part  of  the  word  of 
God  accessible  to  the  English  j)eople  in  their  own 
tongue  except  the  psalter.  Twenty-five  years  after 
the  whole  Bible  was  in  vernacular  speech.  What 
did  this  do  for  the  people  ? 

First  of  all,  it  crystallized  into  beauty  and  strength 
the  English  language.      It  is  said  that  Wycliffe 


Wycliffe.  315 

taiiglit  Chaucer,  the  "  father  of  English  poetry," 
and  til  at  Chaucer  took  Wycliffe  for  the  embodied 
model  of  his  ideal  ''good  parson."  By  his  itin- 
erant gospelers  reading  and  teaching  the  word  in 
English  he  called  language  out  of  chaos  into  order 
and  permanence.  His  apt  phrases,  expressive  of 
compact  thought,  have  filled  the  lips  of  all  Eng- 
lish-speaking people  ever  since.  They  have  been 
the  perfect,  current  coin  of  thought  of  God's  own 
minting,  passing  bright  and  beautiful  from  lip  to 
lip  and  mind  to  mind  in  all  succeeding  ages.  Christ 
delayed  his  coming  until  Greece  had  produced  a 
language  which  in  precision,  compass,  and  possible 
modes  of  intensification  was  fit  for  God  to  speak 
to  men.  That  language  could  bear  the  burden  of 
thoughts  as  high  above  ours  as  the  heavens  are 
above  the  earth.  That  high,  classic,  augmented,  and 
intensified  language,  bearing  those  great  thoughts, 
was  put  into  English  s]3eech.  Hence  the  utterances 
of  Chaucer  and  Shakespeare  and  Pitt  and  Macaulaj^ 
and  Gladstone  become  possible.  Wycliffe's  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible,  and  still  more  his  numerous 
English  sermons  and  tracts,  establish  his  now  un- 
disputed position  as  the  founder  of  English  prose 
writing. 

What  a  grand  uplift  for  a  nation  to  have  its  lan- 
guage exalted  and  pure  at  the  beginning.     "  The 


316  The  Bible: 

Latin  is  a  language  of  command  for  generals;  a 
language  of  decree  for  administrators;  an  attorney 
tongue  for  usurers ;  a  lapidary  speech  for  the  stone- 
hard  Roman  people.  Though  Cliristianity,  with 
true  Christian  patience,  tormented  itself  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  with  the  attempt  to  spirit- 
ualize that  tongue,  its  efforts  remained  fruitless  " 
(Heine).  It  was  a  measureless  blessing  that  our 
English  speech  was  cast  in  a  religious  mold  at  first, 
and  got  at  its  beginning  signs  of  the  infinite  ten- 
derness of  a  loving  Christ. 

The  Latin  idea  of  God  was  that  he  is  transcend- 
ent above  the  world,  not  only  hj  his  infinite  moral 
perfection,  but  sundered  from  it  by  infinite  reaches 
of  time  and  space.  He  could  be  approached  only 
by  intermediate  means — saints,  priests,  and  mother 
of  God.  The  profoundest  revolution  of  thought 
in  all  the  centuries  is  that  God  is  immanent  in  his 
creations,  and  nigh  to  every  man  even  in  his  heart 
and  mouth.  In  him  we  live,  move,  and  have  our 
being.  Every  true  man  is  a  true  priest  of  the  Most 
High.  The  cause  of  this  great  revolution  is  the 
true  word  of  God  in  the  hands  of  all  the  people. 

Eroude  says  of  our  English  speech,  "The  lan- 
guage had  a  mingled  tenderness  and  majesty." 
"What  if  it  had  been  a  mingled  baseness,  innuendo, 
and  salaciousness,  a  record  of  vile  men  and  viler 


Wycliffe.  317 

gods  ?  There  are  languages  into  which  the  glorious 
Gospel  cannot  be  put.  Thej  are  so  base  even  their 
good  words  have  a  double  meaning ;  and  thus  holy 
expressions  suggest  the  vilest  thoughts.  But  our 
blessed  English  speech  was  baptized  in  its  infancy 
to  lofty  uses  and  holiest  meanings;  and  now  it 
bears  to  every  people  under  the  whole  heaven 
great  sweeping  tides  of  lofty  and  holy  thoughts 
from  the  infinite  oceans. 

What  an  educational  force  to  the  people  it  was 
to  be.  They  had  lately  been  a  nation  of  haughty 
feudal  lords  and  serfs  with  iron  collars  riveted  onto 
their  necks.  But  now  the  glad  itinerants  read  to 
them  how  lowliness  could  be  exalted ;  how  slaves 
like  Joseph  and  Daniel  could  come  to  empire ;  how 
poor  fishermen  could  stand  before  kings ;  how  any 
men  like  the  lowly  and  meek  Nazarene  could  come 
to  eternal  glory. 

It  was  a  book  of  widest  travel  both  in  time  and 
space.  Its  readers  were  more  familiar  with  the 
most  notable  things  in  Egypt,  Babylon,  N^ineveh,  Je- 
rusalem, and  Eden  than  modern  travelers  are  with 
what  is  most  worthy  in  Paris  and  London.  It  was 
not  the  trivial  and  small  tliat  occupied  them ;  but 
the  best  in  history,  philosophy,  poetry,  and  divinity 
flowed  through  their  minds  from  daily  speech. 
They  were  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  loftiest 


318  The  Bible: 

heroism  to  which  the  race  ever  rose.  It  made 
heroes  out  of  them,  and  in  the  doubtful  hinge  of 
many  a  battle  the  shouts  of  Miriam  and  Deborah 
and  David  rose  above  the  din  of  arms,  in- 
spired their  hearts,  and  won  the  day  for  human 
right. 

What  an  education  it  was.  It  took  the  most 
compact  and  perfect  processes  of  logic  and  put 
them  into  daily  use,  not  in  the  universities  alone, 
but  in  the  minds  of  common  men.  It  took  the 
greatest  creative  acts,  bringing  order  out  of  chaos, 
and  made  men  feel  that  their  imagination  was  a 
like  creative  faculty.  "No  wonder  Englishmen 
could  stand  over  any  chaos  and  call  order  forth. 
It  took  the  grandest  poetry,  and  made  it  sing  itself 
in  ever  rolling  syllables  and  significances  through 
the  ears  and  hearts  of  all  the  people.  Why  have 
we  such  poetic  wealth  in  Shakespeare,  Milton, 
Charles  Wesley,  Tennyson,  the  Brownings,  Long- 
fellow, Lowell,  and  a  hundred  others,  wealth  as  far 
beyond  that  of  any  other  nation  as  gold  is  beyond 
brass  ?  It  is  because  this  divine  poetry  was  sung 
above  our  cradles,  lisped  in  our  infant  efforts,  and 
it  filled  the  broad  rivers  of  our  manhood  speech. 

We  have  been  where  Apollo  is  fabled  to  have 
given  to  his  favorite  people  the  gift  of  music, 
where  the  divine  Minerva  planted  the  first  olive 


Wycliffe.  319 

tree,  and  the  omnipotent  Neptune  caused  a  spring 
of  water  to  burst  out  by  a  stroke  of  his  trident. 
But  not  any  or  all  of  these  gifts  are  comparable 
with  the  gift  of  the  English  Bible  to  the  English 
people. 

How  it  made  law  a  sublime  reality.  Sinai,  girt 
with  lightnings  and  reverberating  with  live  thun- 
ders, was  lifted  np  over  the  horizon  into  their  daily 
sight.  Calvary  was  lifted  higher,  for  law  was  hon- 
ored at  the  costliest  price.  It  was  seen  that  man 
was  made  for  the  divinest  destiny.  The  walls  of 
every  lowly  English  cabin  were  broadened  till  it 
took  in  all  the  earth,  and  its  roof  was  lifted  till  it 
domed  in  all  the  stars. 

Whence  came  the  freedom  of  the  British  nation  ? 
The  greatest  voice  in  the  universe  had  said,  "  Ye 
shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you 
free."  "  If  the  truth  then  shall  make  you  free,  ye 
shall  be  free  indeed."  Did  they  receive  the  truth  ? 
With  the  greatest  avidity.  It  seems  incredible  that 
in  the  absence  of  printing  the  book  could  have 
become  so  known.  But  there  was  a  whole  class  of 
transcribers,  and  so  great  a  class  of  itinerant  read- 
ers that  even  the  enemies  said  that,  "  Every  second 
man  you  could  meet  was  a  Lollard."  Says  a  writer, 
"  It  was  wonderful  to  see  with  what  joy  the  book  of 
God  was  received,  not  only  among  the  learned  sort, 


320  The  Bible. 

but  generally  all  over  England,  among  all  the  vul- 
gar and  common  people,  and  with  v^^hat  greediness 
the  book  of  God  was  read,  and  what  resort  to  places 
where  the  reading  of  it  was.  Everybody  that  could 
bought  the  book  or  busily  read  it,  or  got  others  to 
read  it  to  them  if  they  could  not  read  it  them- 
selves." Says  Green,  the  historian,  "  The  effect 
of  the  book  on  the  character  of  the  people  at  large 
was  simply  amazing.  The  whole  temper  of  the 
nation  was  changed." 

As  surely  as  Greece  embodied  the  idea  of  perfect 
physical  proportion,  or  Rome  gave  the  world  civil 
law,  so  surely  did  England  set  before  mankind  the 
true  relation  of  liberty  under  law.  The  Bible 
made  the  free  English  nation  ;  the  best  outcome  of 
the  nation  was  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  seeking  in  any 
land  for  Bible  freedom  under  law ;  the  best  out- 
come of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  is  America. 

Therefore,  in  this  land  of  the  sun,  in  this  latest 
and  best  flowering  and  fruitage  of  old  English  his- 
tory, heroism,  perception  and  defense  of  the  right, 
I  baptize  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  this  endowment  of  a 
professorship  for  teaching  the  inexhaustible  full- 
ness and  perennial  power  of  the  word  of  God,  the 
Wyoliffe  Chair  of  the  English  Bible. 


Princeton  Theological  Semina7  Libraries 


1    1012  01208  2576 


